The Broken Fan
by ArikaPhantomess
Summary: Sai has a mission with Sakura, and what a mission it has turned out to be! This adventure includes such elements as lemon, epic battles, kidnap, nudity, social etiquette, excessive drinking and espionage.
1. Chapter 1

The Broken Fan

xXx

It was an unusually cool day in Konoha. It was late summer, but today, fall threatened to come early, compelling villagers to don jackets and scarves. A light breeze blew through the trees encouraging open windows, but a warm sun coaxed even the laziest ninja out of their homes. Altogether, it was a perfect day to train, or so thought team Kakashi, but when they reached the training grounds, they found themselves more interested in cloud watching and chasing each other than running laps.

Sai leaned back against his tree, balancing his brush on one knee. He was trying to paint his teammates, but they insisted on moving. He had part of a laughing Sakura, half of a posing Naruto and a corner of a playful tussle between the two. They were still for the moment, flicking flower petals and leaves at each other, but soon, Naruto would say something and Sakura would be after him again.

When he thought about it, Naruto was only saying what was he was thinking. In the instances when the rambunctious blonde boy grew quiet, Sakura often asked what was on his mind, but when he answered honestly, she became angry. Sai wondered if it was more Sakura's fault for asking questions that might have answers she didn't like or Naruto's for saying things to provoke her.

Sai knew that he wasn't good at social interaction. He thought that since he had been studying people so much that he would have improved even a little bit, but this didn't seem to be the case. His childhood isolation was probably the root of the problem, but he was beginning to wonder if there was just something wrong with him. Nothing he said ever seemed to be contextually correct and it bothered him.

"Naruto!"

Sakura's yell heralded a new round of chasing and empty threats of physical violence. The perpetrator scampered off, waving his arms and laughing gleefully, always only a few steps ahead of his incensed pursuer. So many things about human interaction were confusing. For example, though he shouted in protest, Sai was pretty sure that Naruto actually enjoyed being chased and punched in the arm. He was also fairly certain that Sakura enjoyed it as well. Was it some kind of game?

Sakura collapsed next to him, still laughing through her heavy gasps and shaking her pretty pink hair from her eyes. Heat rolled off her body, warming him and causing his knee to shake, jostling his brush so that it fell.

"I think we've pretended to train long enough, what do you think?"

Sai nodded, "Were we pretending?" he asked, speaking lightly to indicate teasing. He quickly retrieved his brush to capture the remaining curve of her cheek, but found that the ink was dry. "I think we should do at least a few laps so that coming here was productive," he added to cover his mistake.

A pair of sparkling green eyes twinkled at him. "You're probably right. _Hear that, baka? Let's get going!_" she yelled, springing back up. She hadn't even been sitting a whole minute.

xXx

After training, it was usual for the team to meet somewhere to eat and discuss training or battle strategies either at a restaurant or a bar, or occasionally at someone's house. Today, they decided to meet at Sakura's apartment because she promised them tea. She cast a critical eye around her kitchen and small dining room, embarrassed by the sink full of dishes and stack of old magazines, but Naruto and Sai were sniping at each other and didn't seem to notice. She peered around inside her fridge for something to feed them.

"What does everyone want to eat? I've got some rice... or sandwiches..."

"We... we're not hungry," said Naruto quickly, cutting her off.

"Don't be ridiculous. We may not have worked very hard, but I know that neither of you ate breakfast." She turned just in time to see the tail end of a significant look between her teammates. _Oh,_ she thought, _they hate my cooking._ She forced a smile and backed down, "Alright, just tea then."

"Tea... would be good," said Sai suddenly, smiling broadly. Sakura looked at him oddly, but returned his smile anyway and turned back to put the teapot on the stove.

Sai had been acting very strangely lately. When he thought she wasn't looking, she would find him watching her for long periods of time as though she was the answer to a question he didn't quite understand. When she spoke to him, his facial expressions were exaggerated and he occasionally arranged his words wrong with amusing consequences. Ino teasingly suggested that he was in love with her, but after a good laugh, Sakura dismissed the idea. Sai barely had normal feelings, much less powerful emotions like love.

She shook her head to clear that spiteful thought. Just because she hadn't been loved in a good while didn't mean that other people couldn't love each other. She threw whatever teabags she laid hands on first into the boiling water as well as some other things from her cabinets. Everything in her kitchen was medicinal in one way or another, so it hardly mattered what they were, but she liked her tea to be interesting. It steeped for a moment before she served it.

"God, Sakura... What is this?"

"Just drink it, it's good for you."

"I'm not sure it's actually drinkable..."

The tea actually was quite drinkable and had a pleasant, minty aftertaste. The kitchen was too small for any more than two chairs to be in it at once, so she leaned against the counter and sipped it. Naruto quaffed his before it cooled and suffered a burned tongue. Sai, on the other hand, was more cautious and sniffed his experimentally before sampling it.

Sakura watched Sai drink from the corner of her eye. He held his cup very precisely with one hand underneath for support and the other completely around the bowl of the cup, firmly guiding it two and from his barely-opened lips. She saw that he tasted the tea in his mouth for a moment before swallowing with an inclined head. It was a very careful dance executed and perfected by long practice. She wondered what possible use such practice could achieve.

The boys immediately began to gripe at one another again, so she turned away to wash dishes, not wanting to play mediator. Sai's lack of visible expression made Naruto uncomfortable, so the overactive boy regularly did everything in his power to attempt to elicit a response from his teammate. Sai's response was always stoicism and dick jokes.

Suddenly, Naruto jumped up, bumping the table and knocking over his chair. He picked it up and dashed for the door. "I'm late! I have to go meet Jiraiya-sensei for a mission!" he chirped. "Thanks for tea, Sakura-chan!"

"See you later, Naruto," she said to the slammed door.

Sai remained behind, still thoughtfully sipping his tea. Sakura wasn't used to regularly communicating with him, but he seemed to be unbothered by silence. Finally, he placed his empty cup on the table and turned to her. "Sakura? May I ask a favor of you?"

"Sure," she said, drying her hands on a pink dishtowel. She brought her remaining tea to the table and sat directly across from him. Sai paused before speaking; he wanted to phrase this correctly.

"It is apparent to me that there is something lacking in my abilities as a ninja. I have trained hard in every art and easily surpass many of my peers, but I am prevented from using these skills to their fullest extent by my greatest weakness."

This sounded serious. Sakura folded her arms on the table and looked directly into Sai's typically expressionless face. "If I can help with whatever it is, I'll do my best. What is it?"

"Will you teach me how to talk to people?"

Sakura's eyebrows shot up into her bangs, but when she thought about it, she couldn't honestly say that she was surprised by his request. On more than one occasion, his insensible bluntness had insulted her or her friends and on even more occasions, his attempts at correct social interaction had made the situation worse. It was more shocking that he would ask for help than anything else.

She shrugged. "Okay. I don't think I can make you any worse at talking to people, at any rate, but... why ask me?"

"Because you know me; you know that I'm not trying to be mean. I just never learned what to say." He smiled, but this time his eyes also smiled. "You seem to be the only one who has patience enough with me to explain things."

Sakura couldn't help but grin back. "Alright, then. We'll start immediately." Abruptly, she leaned across the table and slapped him in the face with all of her natural strength. "Never, _ever_, call a woman 'ugly'!"

xXx

A/N- I found that life was less awesome when I wasn't writing something, so my planned break sort of dissolved. Ah well. This shouldn't be as long as my other, but sometimes these things get a bit out of hand.


	2. Chapter 2

Sakura decided that it was important for Sai to learn proper human interaction as soon as possible, so his social training now occupied her lunch breaks every Tuesday, Thursday and Friday. Promptly at noon, the taciturn ninja would show up at the hospital to escort his new sensei to the nearest food shop where they would talk for an hour and a half about what is appropriate to say to a sick friend or why you can't call your superiors by the nicknames _their_ superiors gave them. Later in the evening, they would go out to a restaurant and surreptitiously observe the other patrons, learning from their real-time conversations what couldn't be taught out of context.

After a week or two, Sai seemed to be improving, so Sakura decided to implement a trial-and-train approach. Sakura made him complete every verbal exchange with people they encountered and often asked him to include appropriate compliments into the mix. The idea was that though he would still screw up, the reactions of the other person would teach him what he shouldn't say; which in his case was more useful than learning a perfect, rote phrase for every situation. Her theory held sound when tested and though it was hilarious the first time he very sincerely complimented the waitress's figure, the solid knot on his head encouraged better choices in the future. To celebrate his new adequacy, they went out to their customary tempura shop.

"How is the hospital?" Sai asked as they waited for their orders.

"Big. Sterile. Full of sick people."

"Do you treat civilians as well as ninja?"

"Occasionally," she answered after thinking about it, "But normally their injuries don't bring them into my wing. They have to try pretty hard to hurt themselves that badly."

"I see."

There was content silence for several moments and their food arrived. Sai ate slower than normal, Sakura observed. She guessed that he was thinking about something, but didn't press him. He would tell her when he was ready.

"Why do women lie?"

Sakura choked on her tempura. "What do you mean?"

"I mean, why do women say they want one thing when they really want something else? Isn't it easier just to say what you mean?"

Sakura furrowed her brow. His explanation was both illuminating and obtuse. She got the feeling that he was referring to a specific incident, but he was unwilling to tell her what it was. Unfortunately, she didn't think this was a question that could be addressed generally. "Can you give me an example?"

Sai balked, which confirmed her suspicion. At length, he said, "I have noticed that some women tell others that they want nice men who respect them. I have also heard some say that they think personality is more important than physical appearances, but after observation, their actions do not match their words."

Sakura laughed. "It's not just women that do that. Everyone lies about what they want, but they don't really mean to. It's a basic conflict of interests."

"Whose interests are conflicting?"

"Their own," she answered simply. "People were built to do one thing, evolve by reproducing, so that's always what's on our minds, one way or another. However, in civilized society, we're supposed to think about other things and be more than just primitive baby-making machines. It means that we're constantly at war with ourselves about what we really want, so the inconsistencies leak out all over the place."

"Even you?"

Sai's eyes watched her face intensely, very obviously interested in her answer. She looked away, blushing; it felt like he could see straight through her soul. "Yes," she said softly, "Even me."

"What do you want?"

"Another bowl of tempura would be nice..."

"No." Sai reached across the bar and took her hand. Sakura felt compelled to look back into his eyes. "What do _you_ want?"

_I want that intensity... I want it entirely focused on me... on making me feel amazing..._ _I want you with me. _"I... I don't know." She took back her hand. "I have to go." The money hit the counter and she didn't once look back.

xXx

"I have an extremely important mission for you, Sakura."

"What is it Hokage-sama?"

The older woman leaned back in her chair and laced her fingers together. "I have received reliable intelligence from ANBU that there could be a plan to assassinate the Daimyo in a fortnight. I don't think I need to tell you how serious this has the potential to be. I want you to go and recover evidence of such a plot, if it exists."

"An assassination! Tsunade-sama... perhaps I'm out of line, but why are you sending me? Wouldn't the ANBU themselves be better?"

"Because I don't want to just kill everyone in the vicinity," she answered, snorting. "The ANBU are effective, don't misunderstand me, but I want to be sure that this isn't just a rumour in the wind." She leaned across the desk. "I'm looking for _evidence_. I might want you to stay and complete the job anyway, but I know that you're smart enough to do what's required _first_ before kunai-ing everything around you." She nodded and sat back in her chair, tucking away a strand of blonde hair while rummaging through papers on her desk. "Shizune, where are those documents I marked earlier? The geisha house ones?"

"Right here, Tsunade-sama."

"Ah, yes. Sakura, take these. You will be posing as a geisha hosting an evening's entertainment for the men who are our primary suspects. You will have full use of the location's facilities and we've double checked the reservation for the hall where the dinner meeting will take place. I want this to be the quietest, smoothest infiltration possible, so you will bring along only one other teammate; you may choose whom."

Sakura leafed through the file folder. "A geisha? Isn't this something that Ino usually does?"

"Ino is not suited to the delicate and volatile nature of this mission. These are not stupid men; if you slip up, there is a disturbingly high chance that you will be discovered and we have not studied them long enough to be sure of predicting their next move."

"I understand. When do I leave?"

"As early as possible. Tomorrow morning."

xXx

This mission concerned her. Such a heavy responsibility weighed heavily on her mind and she couldn't prepare properly until she was in a better mood. She believed that the tidier one's surroundings were, the more orderly one's thoughts became, so she was straightening her kitchen when there was a knock on the door. She opened it and found Sai on her doorstep.

"Sakura-chan," he said in an apprehensive voice, "I have the feeling that I upset you last night. I want to apologize if I did."

"No, Sai. You didn't upset me," she said, blushing, "I was just... tired... suddenly." His expression was not impressed. "All right, I _was_ upset," she admitted, shaking her head, "but it wasn't really because of anything you did. Here, come in." She left the door wide open for him and went to slump onto the couch. When he joined her, she said, "It's not easy for me to talk about people the way we do. I have to recognize that I'm just like everyone else in a lot of ways and it bothers me when someone points that out." It was a half-truth, anyway. He didn't need to know how his intense stare made her body tremble.

He shifted and his hand twitches as if he was thinking about taking her hand again, but he held himself still. "I apologize. It was not my intent to upset you."

"Thank you." She took a deep cleansing breath and smiled. "I need a partner for a mission. It's in the capitol city and we leave first thing tomorrow morning. Are you willing and able?"

"What kind of mission?" As she briefly explained, his face grew stonier and at the end, he purposefully raised his eyebrows. "Why ask me?"

"Well, I've thought about it and honestly, I'll just need backup, not someone to help me find what I'm looking for. I need someone who can sit tight, but quickly get me out if things go south. Naruto, even if he were here right now, is not someone I would pick."

"Are you saying that you trust me?"

Sakura blushed furiously, suppressing a wave of improper ideas on that subject, but noted his half-smile before she stammered out something idiotic. "You're teasing me."

"Yes. Yes, I am." He smiled sincerely. "I will gladly be your teammate on this mission."

xXx

A/N- This story is moving surprisingly quickly for how suddenly the plot of this story came to me. I swear, I sat on Sand Jar for weeks before sketching out rudimentary scenes. Normally, my M.O. is to think of an idea or a pairing or a specific scene and sketch those down first. Then, I start fleshing out the scene with a plot and jotting down other scenes or situations I think could turn up in the story. Finally, after some considerable thought nailing down as many particulars as I can, I start the story and write in a linear fashion until I'm done. I like short stories because I feel that stretching out an idea too far makes the idea lose focus and become less interesting, so I think that my best stories are usually strong one-shots or stories with about 10 chapters.


	3. Chapter 3

A/N- I apologize in advance that this chapter is short, but the next one is extra long to make up. Hope you're enjoying it as much as I am. ^_^

xXx

Sai went home late that night. He left Sakura's apartment shortly after he agreed to join her mission, but when he reached the street, he found that he wasn't ready to sleep yet. His mind was full and his feet were restless, wanting to wander.

He finally arrived at the conclusion that there was something wrong with him, but it had something to do with Sakura. Every time he was around her, he couldn't look away. He observed every movement she made and heard every word she said in a way that he didn't with anyone else. It was as if he had a radar that was only tuned to her wavelength.

He had read about this phenomenon before, but never known anyone who had experienced it first hand who could provide accurate details about the event itself. It felt as though he was on the edge of a scary and unknown world that claimed the lives of many a man before him.

Konoha was darker than most cities, Sai noted, and it made sense. A ninja village could have a great advantage by hiding its size and numbers from enemies. That couldn't be the only reason that Konoha's streets were dark, though. Konoha lay hidden at the heart of a thick forest, unlike other cities which were build on hills or in great plains or surrounded by smaller villages. In the city, it was never dark. The streetlights and lamps from houses and businesses produced a perpetual glow to stave off the darkness. One could wander the streets of a city and never strain one's eyes to see.

In the country, night was absolute. Darkness hung thickly around you, stifling your senses and abandoning you under the cold stars. Konoha was in the country. The soft, dim lights in its streets only provided a way to see the road that took you home, or to the city gates, in Sai's case.

He sat heavily against the great, wooden gates, sighing heavily. He noticed his sickness earlier that day at the training grounds. When she spoke to him, his fingertips went numb and his tongue didn't want to work. He only wanted to watch her hair flutter around her face. Other young ninja had a term for this feeling and Sai hadn't understood until he felt the nervous palpitations of his heart; a crush.

Anyway, if there was something actually wrong with him, what should he do about it? He'd never heard of medication that cured butterflies in one's tummy, but he saw her everyday. Should he tell her? She was a highly skilled medical doctor, so if anyone could fix him, she could. For some reason, though, the thought of sharing this new secret made his mouth go dry. She might laugh and tell him he was being ridiculous for imagining it, or worse, get angry with him. No one in the world was scarier when angry than Sakura.

Suddenly, the guards on the city wall flashed a light down on him and barked orders for him to get away, so he got up and left. His feet were finally reconciled to going home, but his head would still be awake later...

...thinking about her.

xXx

The capitol city of Fire Country was not very far from Konoha for practical reasons. An invasion of the capitol would be just as devastating as the destruction of the main ninja village, so it was in the best interest of both cities to be relatively close. On the other hand, placing two powerful cities too closely together could produce other problems; more of the country could be left unprotected by either military power, but also putting two highly influential leaders in close proximity was a good way to inspire civil war. At the distance they were currently, the leaders could easily keep up with the business of the other, but not interfere.

Sakura and Sai made an extremely efficient team. Sakura's extensive knowledge of the route made travel easy and both had impressive stamina from keeping up with Naruto, so they covered ground quickly. In three days, they chose a base camp in a copse of thick, deciduous trees outside the city limits, just in time for Sakura to begin preparations for the mission, which would go into operation that evening.

They went over the plan, which, for as important as this mission was, was pretty bare-bones. So much depended on the behavior of the targets and Sakura's decisive action that there wasn't much that was solid enough to account for. The location was definite and the number of men was reasonably accurate, but everything else was left up to fate.

"Take these," said Sai, pressing a thin package the length of her forearm into her hands. "Make a half seal over either one and I will be able to pull you out wherever you are."

She arrived at the deserted geisha house an hour or two before sundown, when the men would appear. She didn't know when the staff would turn up, but they knew to leave her alone until she was ready.

Sakura had chosen her dress and identity for this evening carefully. This was not like normal ninja work where she could jutzu herself an appearance and take what she wanted by force. The background of each man was totally unknown, so one or all might be able to detect ninja art, and if she used brute force, all subtlety would be lost and the consequences could be dire. One never knew when criminals were smart enough to have backup plans in place for just such occasions as this. The daimyo could be dead before dawn.

She was beginning to regret agreeing that Sai should stay outside the city limits until further notice; tying a kimono alone was surprisingly difficult and the complete silence of the room made her fingers slip from nerves. She knew it wasn't proper for a traditional kimono, but she left an indent for her waist, just in case anyone forgot she was a woman, though her artificially lengthened hair really left no doubt.

This evening, her name would be "Ichigo," which was in keeping with her preferred color scheme, pink, but distant enough from her real name that she wouldn't give herself away. She painted her skin warm ivory with her own hands, carefully shaping the lines of her face to be round and soft; innocent and non-threatening. She darkened her eyelids to let the light green of her eyes stand out. Finally, she colored her lips a bright, sensuous red. When she spoke, they would find themselves unable to look anywhere else.

Her reflection in the mirror looked somberly back at her when she was done. Somewhere under all the makeup, was Sakura, but she had let this other woman take her place. This was not going to be easy, and it was definitely not going to be pretty.


	4. Chapter 4

"Good evening, gentlemen," said Sakura in a high, girlish voice, bowing deeply. Five well-dressed men returned her bow. "Welcome. My name is Ichigo and it is my honor to serve you tonight."

"We thank you for your house's hospitality towards us," said a balding man in a muted, green kimono who stepped to the front of the group. "Not many would offer us a place to meet on such short notice."

"It is our pleasure," she replied sweetly, smiling. "Please follow me to the dining hall." Out of the corner of her eye, Sakura watched them rearrange themselves behind her. The man who had spoken drifted to the middle of the group beside another man about his age in a cheery blue summer kimono. The one who made his way to the front of the group was a young black-haired man in a navy blue suit followed closely by another young man with dark red hair wearing an austere black suit with a crisply folded red handkerchief in his pocket. The first man was gesturing sharply and speaking in an urgent, secretive whisper, but his companion only nodded, saying nothing. Sakura wondered if this first man was the leader, but then saw a much older man walking alone at the rear. This man had long silver hair tied back in a braid and walked with a cane, though he did not yet seem to need it. His red and white robes were cleanly pressed and he smiled warmly at her when she asked if he would like to lean on her arm.

"No, no, Miss Ichigo," he said, patting her cheek in a grandfatherly way, "This old man doesn't need a pretty young thing like you to fuss over him yet. I could do with a strong cup of tea, though."

Sakura inclined her head. "Tea should be served momentarily. I will ask the cook to make sure the brew is the strongest we have."

"Thank you, my dear."

She opened the door to the brightly lit dining hall. A long, low table surrounded by plush mats occupied the center of the room before an open, raised platform at the front. On this platform were two men and a woman, all holding instruments. "Please make yourselves comfortable. The musicians will play shortly and I will return with refreshments."

When she returned with a full tray, the men had all grouped themselves at the far side of the table, facing the musicians, in essentially the same order they arrived. Sakura presented the tray, laden with tea, saké and sweet cakes, with a flourish and began to serve. The older man accepted his tea gratefully, but the man in the green kimono turned over his teacup before she could pour.

"Don't mind Toyama," chortled the old man, "Delicate stomach, he has. The strong tea makes him sick!" Toyama smiled sheepishly and tried to laugh away his embarrassment.

Sakura gently laid her hand on his. "Is there something milder I could get for you?"

He swallowed before asking, "Do you have a pale, white tea?"

"Of course," she answered, smiling once more. She finished serving the others before asking the maid stationed right outside the door to fetch the white tea.

The man in the blue kimono gestured for her to sit beside him, which she did. "That was an extremely considerate thing you did for Toyama," he said softly, taking the teapot from her and pouring her tea. "He is very sensitive about such things."

"I only did what I would have wanted someone else to do for me," she replied modestly, accepting her tea.

"Thank you, in any case, Ichigo-san. My name is Yoshida Daigoro."

"I am delighted to meet you." Sakura allowed the man with the beautiful smile to clink his cup gently against hers for luck.

xXx

The men were pleasant enough. Sakura flitted from one to the other when teacups needed filling and chatted with each of them in turn. The two younger men were surprisingly more taciturn than their older companions, who were more than happy to talk about the music or the weather.

Soon, the musicians left and in their wake the conversation stuttered, leaving silent pauses that Sakura did her best to fill in. What could she do? Her conversation skills were limited and the men weren't always particularly helpful. She had actually been trained what to do in this situation, but she wasn't sure she liked where that might lead. She would have to do something, though and probably quickly, before the men became nervous and antsy.

"Who would like more tea?" she asked in a soft tone, lower than the one she had been using. Its effect was immediate; she had the group's attention. Everyone seemed to want his cup refilled.

Her movements became almost imperceptibly slower, allowing them time to consider her movements. She hesitated longer at Yoshida's cup, smiling and demurely bowing her head, but then glancing up through her eyelashes so their green sparkled at him. Her gaze then concentrated on the position of her hands on the teapot, but she heard him shift restlessly on his mat and she concealed a grin.

"Our Ichigo is so graceful with the tea," commented Toyama, folding his hands into his green sleeves, "Are her feet as beautiful on the stage?"

All eyes in the room turned to her with interest in her answer. "Oh, no!" she exclaimed softly, blushing prettily, "My feet have never had any talent for dancing. I am sure I would embarrass myself thoroughly."

Such a timid and modest denial could only be disguising exceptional expertise, so with great enthusiasm the gathered men beseeched Sakura to dance for them, assuring her fervently that they didn't care if she did it all wrong and that they would applaud loudly no matter what. She slipped Sai's two gifts from her obi and made her way to the front of the room.

Slowly, she produced two fans made of polished ebony and unfolded them on either side of her face. They were beautiful. Sai used no colors when he painted, only black ink on the crisp, white fan paper, but the brushed plumage of the twin rising phoenixes didn't need a splash of red to display their fiery feathers. Even the subtle flutter of Sakura's hand as she held them was enough to make one feel as if their wings stirred the air, warming it. She allowed a few heartbeats to pass so the gathered gentlemen could admire the fans and absorb the stillness of the room before she began.

She took a powerful step to the left and easily sank into the most basic taijutzu position, then slid into the next; an extended crouch. She breathed deeply as she moved into the next position, passing the fans briefly before her face for effect and letting her slender ankle creep out from under her kimono. The forms flowed naturally into one another and felt good to her body. She focused completely on performing perfect, graceful stances firstly because their simple elegance deserved special attention, but also because if she were to move more quickly, she could accidentally perform more complex maneuvers and give herself away.

Her audience was completely captivated. They watched the precise point of her feet and imagined the curve of her calf, observed the gentle bend of her wrist and glanced at the swell of her breast and when they saw the slow roll of her hips, they imagined other things entirely. They barely breathed and the air became heavy with desire.

She completed the set of stances with a rising form; her toes were pointed, one leg was bent and her arms stretched out from her body. Slowly, Sakura folded the fans, stowed them away and bowed deeply. She returned to her seat amid soft, but sincere applause. Somehow, the conversation began again and after a new round of compliments, dinner arrived on the hands of four young, beautiful maids. Sakura became busy with the task of seeing everyone's plate filled and pouring the tea in the correct order.

When talk among themselves turned to mundane business matters, Sakura recognized her cue. Deliberately, she stood and turned away from the men with an empty teapot on display in her hands. She backed away from the table slowly as if she were trying not to be noticed, but the sudden lull in the discussion indicated that every man's attention was keenly focused on her departure. She closed the door firmly behind her and walked away with quick, clipped footsteps. Now was her chance. The moment she was out of earshot, she stepped out of her wooden shoes. Sakura handed the teapot to the nearest girl and shooed her away to get more tea claiming foot pain. She waited until the girl turned the corner and performed a quick jutzu to make herself transparent. Then, making absolutely no noise, she crept back down the hallway and knelt by the paper door.

Because she had shut the door so strongly, there was actually a very small gap between the door and the doorframe, where the door had bounced open. She looked through this gap and discovered that the man in the green suit was blocking her view of the table, but fortunately, she could still hear every word that was said.

"There isn't much time, this decision needs to be _made_."

"It was already made!" said the young man in the dark blue suit, slapping his palm on the table. "How many times are we going to have this same discussion?"

"Calm yourself, Matsuo-san," said the old man in red and white robes. He smoothed an invisible crease in his sleeve and tucked away a strand of grey hair while addressing the group, "It is good that these issues continue to be brought up because they _are_ still problems. Have we truly considered every possible consequence?"

Toyama snorted, but next to him, the man in black leaned forward and spoke urgently. "We are either all in this together, or tonight we go our separate ways, back to the troubles of our normal lives. I still believe this is for the best," he said more calmly, adjusting his tie, "and if everyone else agrees, I say we take a final vote now."

Everyone at the table then looked at Yoshida, who now sat at the end of the table. Sakura saw that though his blue kimono was simpler than the clothes of anyone else, the garment was cut better and made from finer material. He looked at each of the other four men in turn, then reached into his sleeve and produced a crumpled manila envelope. He handed it to the man in robes, who set it in the middle of the table.

"Open it, Toyama," he directed the man in green. "Take out the first paper and write your name on it, all of you. Even you, Sato-san," he said, cutting across the old man's grumbling. "By signing this, you all agree to total secrecy. I, myself, have already signed, as you can see. This package also contains the money we collected for the job. Tomorrow, I will hire the man and the day after, this whole business will be behind us."

Every man at the table nodded and Sakura decided that she had heard more than enough. She crawled away on all fours and released the jutzu. What she had to do now was obvious, she thought while putting her shoes back on and fetching the teapot from the servant. First, she had to get word to Sai, who would tell Tsunade of the mission's progress and receive new orders. Then... she would have to get that envelope by any means necessary.

xXx

"Thank you for your presence this evening. It was my pleasure to serve you." Sakura bowed to her departing guests. They each returned the bow, one pausing to take her hands and squeeze them. Only Yoshida was left. He folded back his dark sleeves before bowing to her and offering her his arm, which she took.

"It was a delightful evening thanks to you, Ichigo-chan," he said, guiding them across the street. "Are you required back at the house soon?"

Sakura smiled and looked at her feet. "No, Yoshida-san," she answered with a soft giggle, "I may stay with you longer if that is your wish."

xXx

The click of the lock in the door echoed strangely through the hotel room. Yoshida was only staying here a little while, he actually lived further north, almost on the border. Sakura looked around the simple room, noting the neatly folded clothes in a leather suitcase and tidy stack of documents on the desk weighted down by a handsome katana.

"You have discovered my sword, Miss Ichigo," he said proudly. "This has been in my family for generations and I bring it with me on all long business trips."

"Will you be staying here much longer?" asked Sakura, holding back a stutter.

"No... not much longer... in fact," he gently turned her to face him, "I don't have much time here at all."

His kiss was uncompromising. Sakura could barely breathe, but she prevented herself from pushing him away; the katana on the table looked more and more threatening the tighter he gripped her shoulders. Finally, he grabbed her so hard that she cried out, ripping her lips away from his. He bent quickly and pressed hot kisses to her throat, brushing the line of her kimono. His hand began to loosen her obi cord, but she stumbled back.

"Yoshida-san..."

"Daigoro, please," he corrected her, closing the distance between them again and swiftly unfastening her robe altogether. Sakura held her thin undergarments closed with shaking hands, her feet tangling in the cloth underneath her. _The mission... I have to complete the mission..._ she thought desperately, but every bone in her body begged her to run away. Yoshida caressed her cheek, comforting her. "You have no reason to fear me, Ichigo," he said in a low, soothing voice. She almost believed him.

His hands touched her body through the sheer lace, his embrace warming the material. Sakura held herself still as he felt her arms and sides, gently loosening her death grip to let him cup her breasts. Her robe fell away, allowing him to kiss her collarbone softly and hold her bare hips. Trembling, she lifted her hands to his head and teased his dark locks with her fingers. He groaned into her chest, then swirled his tongue around her hard nipple and grabbed her ass.

Sakura deliberately schooled her face into a content, pleasant smile. She tried to ignore the feeling of his callused fingers exploring her folds and stroking her thighs. She let her eyes lose focus when Yoshida straightened and disrobed before guiding her to his bed. Her mental indifference was a precious haven from which she could observe her actions as if someone else was performing them; someone who didn't care what happened to her. She clung to her sanctuary, staring out the window at the bright stars while his tongue lapped at her clitoris, but felt her body grow warm all the same. She shook and her pink hair hung limply in her face, growing damp with fevered sweat. Soon, she would be unable to contain herself.

Yoshida rose to kiss her, tasting of salt and passion. "You will like this," he promised, "I can please you."

"I... p-please..." she begged in a whisper. "Please..."

His penetration was agonizingly slow. Sakura felt every movement keenly, from the moment his head slipped past her opening until he was buried deep inside her and could fill her no more. Her head hung weakly to one side and she squeezed her eyes shut to hold back her emotions. His next thrust was faster and the next, sharper. She could barely grasp the sheets and so had to cling to his broad, bare back to keep from sliding away. Each lunge grew more powerful and forced him harder inside her until she gasped, then cried out. She pushed away on his chest only for him to sit up and take her hips in his hands to drive himself in more deeply. She swore aloud when her body tightened and washed her away with an intense orgasm. She barely noticed when her partner hissed through his teeth and bent double over her, shaking, before collapsing to one side with a careless arm flung over her.

"My god, Ichigo..." he gasped, breathing deeply with his eyes closed.

"Shhh," she said, pulling him close enough to rest his head on her bosom. She waited until she heard his breathing slow, then become long and steady. At that point, she rolled him away and stood, pausing to make sure the movement hadn't disturbed him. She kicked open his crumpled kimono and took the envelope she found there. Inside was the list of names and a wad of cash. Sakura threw one long look over her shoulder before pulling her clothes back on and leaving.


	5. Chapter 5

A/N- Sincerest apologies for the lack of update. I had a lot of problems with this chapter- this is the third complete rewrite. I also caught a very mild flu, so that didn't help any. At any rate, I'm updating now and hope to update more regularly until the end of this story. Lucky you, it's another long chapter to make up for the wait. ^_^

xXx

"Alright, just remember what we practiced," said Sakura, shaking out her hands. Sai only nodded, adjusting the brim of his straw hat. They walked together, arm in arm, through the main square of the village, whispering together, laughing softly and generally looking like a young couple. They waved amiably to the few passersby who were out and about this early, then stopped an older woman who carried a basket filled with green, leafy vegetables.

"Excuse me," Sakura asked her, "Do you know where the Wa-no-Kuni Ryokan is? We seem to have lost our way."

"Yes, of course. Are you new here?"

"Yes, we're here on a family visit." Sakura smiled first at Sai, who grinned back, then at the older woman as she gave them detailed directions. Sai thanked her graciously, then Sakura led the way.

"Wait," said Sai, tugging her arm. "We don't both need to go, do we? Except for one katana, these men are unarmed and probably untrained, and I think you also said that only Yoshida was at the hotel."

"You're right, all the others walked home," she agreed after a moment of thought. "Why don't you look for... Nakamura Kyohei. I... I can do this one alone."

Sai looked at her with a curious expression on his face. "Are you certain?"

"Yes... Yes. Now go!" He hesitated only a heartbeat before sprinting back the way they came. Sakura watched him go, then shivered with a sudden chill.

Maybe it was because she was alone now, but the town seemed eerily deserted today, even for early morning. She expected that merchants would be opening stalls or businessmen would be going to work, but only a few children played behind the fences nicer houses. Their chatter echoed through the empty streets. She hurried along, rolling her feet as she jogged to make less noise.

'_Two rights, then a left. It should be on the left, you can't miss it."_

Sakura quickly slipped through the impressive gate, then leapt up the walkway and stairs to press the button bearing his name on the plate outside the door. She waited after the buzz, but there was no sound, not even a click to indicate that the front door had been unlocked. Very strange, or perhaps not so much. Yoshida-san must be paranoid out of his mind right now. Sakura pulled out a hairpin and picked the lock.

As expected, this was a ritzy place. Though the lobby was sparsely furnished, the area was very elegant. She sneaked a look at the low table across from the vacant check-in counter and saw that it was hand made and finely polished. She shouldn't stay here too long, someone in this neighborhood would surely notice a lower class ninja like herself wandering around. Where was the staff, though? She should have been stopped before now.

She recalled that Yoshida's room was not very far away, so she followed the path from her memory, struck once again by the lack of humanity. It made her feel unsettled, as if something was wrong. Years of training taught her to heed her instincts, so she approached his door with extra caution, hardly breathing.

Stilling her hands, she pulled the door open. The living room was elegantly furnished with oak trimmed seats and jars of tall reeds standing in the corners. Hanging paper lights glowed softly, illuminating her surroundings, and sliding glass doors opened into a flowering garden. She looked by the doorframe and saw a pair of slippers, but no street shoes. Was he not home? She crept to the left, focusing on the closer of two paper doors. She readied her stance, then flung open the door and tumbled in.

Silence.

Sakura stood and saw that the bedroom was empty. A door that could only logically lead to a bathroom was dark. She only listened for a moment before determining that no one was hiding there. At this point, she abandoned caution and sprinted to the other room, another bedroom, which was also empty. His katana was nowhere to be seen.

"He's not here!" she exclaimed aloud. It was too early in the morning for him to have left, but he was nowhere in sight. She returned to the first bedroom, the one she remembered and discovered his suitcase, neatly packed, by the door. He hadn't left; thank Kami. Should she wait?

Just then, her pocket burned. Sakura reached in and pulled out a familiar ebony shaft. She flicked the fan open, but instead of a painted phoenix, she saw characters spelled from the ink. "Nakamura gone. Family absent. Too quiet."

So Sai was encountering the same, damning desolation. They knew. Had they been set up? For as surprisingly thorough as the 'evacuation' was, Sakura didn't think so. No one would go through the trouble of getting almost an entire town to stay inside just to run away. Sakura knelt and opened the suitcase. All of his things were inside, so it wasn't just a plant. No, Yoshida had honestly been planning to leave when either he was tipped off... or he didn't find the money. What sort of power did these men have that they could control an entire town? What had they gotten themselves into?

xXx

"Sakura!" Sai called, waving to her.

"They know!" she said, sprinting up to him. "I think they want their money back."

"I'm sure of it, look." Sai held out a piece of paper with a few, scratched lines on it.

_North Hill. Bring what is ours. _

"Direct, aren't they?" she said, tossing her hair. "We've grossly underestimated them." The main square really was deserted now. Even the few people milling around earlier had jumped ship.

"What should we do?" asked Sai, watching her face.

Sakura wasn't sure how they decided that she was the unofficial leader of the team, but she didn't feel particularly qualified for the job. She didn't know what to do any better than he did, and probably even less so because she lacked his objective nature. What would Kakashi do? Actually, in retrospect that question never seemed to apply as well to her situations as she thought it should. Kakashi never seemed to have anything resembling a plan. Sai cleared his throat to bring her back to the present.

"We need more information. We don't know how much time they've had to prepare or if they hired help anyway. They may even have back up plans, we just don't know. Let's go to North Hill," she decided, confidently pointing at the only hill visible from town, that convenient happened to be north. "We'll gather information once we're there."

"I'll send scouts ahead," volunteered Sai, taking out his sketchbook. He drew two small sparrows and performed a seal over them. Sakura watched them peel off the page and flutter away towards the hill.

"Right, let's go."

xXx

North Hill was sparsely forested, not great for stealth. Running on the ground from tree to tree was the only, tiring option. Luckily, the hill was not steep, so getting to the top didn't take very long at all. A beautiful, old temple greeted the teammates. It wasn't very large, they discovered by searching the perimeter, and it was mostly likely uninhabited judging by peeling paint, overgrown trees peeking over the walls and a rotting woodpile.

Sakura scaled the east wall while Sai recalled his birds and climbed a tree on the northwest side, near the back gate. He sent a message to her via fan reading, "5 men together inside gate. Weapons sheathed."

Good, they weren't there to fight. They wanted to parley first. They could sneak in from the south and take out at least three while they had the element of surprise... but Sakura's gut wrenched. Their orders were uncompromising; the traitors must die, but to sneak up on them and kill them without a fair fight... like a ninja.

She shook her head. They would have honor. Yosh... They deserved at least that. She took out a pen and scrawled across the fan, "Enter together through front gate." Her blue ink blurred and redrew itself as a phoenix that flew off the edge of the fan, presumably to Sai's. She stowed it and leapt down from the wall.

Together, the pair pushed open the heavy, creaky gate and entered boldly. As promised, the small contingent of men were kneeling together in a line facing the gate. The older Sato-san sat in the middle, but stood at their approach, shaking out his robes and leaning heavily on his cane.

"Ninja."

Sakura bowed and Sai followed her lead.

"You have something of ours, some money. We would like it back."

"I am afraid that we cannot allow that," replied Sakura, lapsing easily into the standard, detached formality the situation required, avoiding the expression of any emotion in her voice. "We have come here for a different purpose."

Sato's eyes twitched, as if he wanted to look away, but was preventing himself. "You mean to kill us, then? As traitors of the state?"

"That... is correct."

"Then you have your duty and we, ours." Sato suddenly brought his cane up through the air and forcefully flicked the end at them as if he were shaking off a lizard. Sai reached in front of Sakura, who stood transfixed, and swatted away the poisonous needles.

"Cheap tricks," he said in a menacing, flat tone. "I would have expected a former shinobi to plan his surprise attack more thoroughly."

The old man laughed richly, his silver braid swinging. "They trained you well, boy. This will be delightful. Come, I will fight you first." Sai leapt in the air immediately, correctly guessing that Sato would make a charge. Sakura tore her eyes away from her teammate's nimble mid-air twist and blocked kick to focus on the four men now locating their weapons.

She rushed the left side of the straight formation, where the two middle aged men crouched. Yoshida saw her coming and thrust his open palm out to meet her, but she pivoted on her heel and charged around him the other way, neatly placing a chop to the back of his neck that would knock him out for at least two hours. He crumpled. Then she dispatched the other man, Toyama, with a light kick to his delicate stomach. He, too, went down.

Sakura began to wonder if this fight was going to be any challenge at all when a knife soared by her head, taking a lock of pink hair with it. The young men followed behind, staggering their steps to prevent her from predicting where they would be from second to second. She barely drew a kunai in time to block an angry dagger to the face. The metal grated harshly as its wielder ran by, dragging the blade with him and nicking her ear. Sakura turned furiously to return the attack, but carelessly left her back exposed and received a fist to her kidney that made her stagger and lean off balance. She threw her kunai at one opponent before launching herself into the air and out of her less-than-advantageous position.

The sounds of Sai's fight were clearly audible when she righted herself and took a defensive stance, but she could not see the struggle. She forced herself to focus on her targets and ignore the ache of a blossoming bruise on her ribs. The dagger returned, swiping at her chest, but she leaned back and countered easily, thrusting up with her kunai and catching an elbow. A satisfying growl of pain rewarded her reflexes. Her foot connected solidly to the jaw that made that sound and sent him down.

The young man with black hair looked nervous, shifting his weight from foot to foot and staring at her and his comrade. Sakura took no chance and rushed forward, hammering his chest with her fist to create a sickening 'snap'. His body hesitated, still upright, for a moment before slouching and falling backwards, dead. Sakura glanced at her other opponent, stone-cold senseless on the ground, and let a kunai fly. She didn't watch it land.

"Oof!" Sai hit the ground, landing squarely on his back. Sakura flung her last katana and pinned Sato's pant leg to the cobblestone. The elderly man wobbled and toppled to one side. She then took back her katana and used it quickly.

Sai gasped for breath. "Got the wind knocked out of you, eh?" teased Sakura, hauling him upright.

He nodded, clutching his chest.

"Hah, all right. You sit there and recover. There are only two more." But as she looked at the two prone figures, her gut wrenched. She swallowed, approaching Toyama. His eyes were closed and his body was curled as if in sleep. Only the unsteady rise and fall of his torso indicated his pain. Sakura's fingers itched to perform a healing jutzu, but instead, they performed a different art. Toyama would have no more digestion trouble.

"Ichigo..."

Sakura turned. "You know who I am?"

"Of course." Daigoro lay still, but his hand cradled the back of his neck, where blood stained his fingers. She didn't think she had struck him that hard. "I don't blame you," he said, coughing. "It is only your job."

Sai's hand touched her shoulder. He watched her face.

"...I- I can't."

He nodded and finished it for her.

xXx

A/N- Hope you enjoyed it.


	6. Chapter 6

"You both have earned a break. No missions for two weeks; a month, if you can manage it," said Tsunade, looking pointedly at Sakura, "No hospital duties for at least a week. Also, I am going to have to explain to some representatives of the Daimyo why your mission was necessary, so you may not want to be in the vicinity for a while."

xXx

Sai was painting a sunset this evening. He found that landscapes had a very calming effect on him recently, so when his mind was full, he would take his sketchbook and brush to a new, sweeping view of Konoha or its surrounding mountains. Tonight, he sat cross-legged on the wide rail of one of the many footbridges spanning the river that coursed through the village. He realized that since he didn't use color, the majesty of the purple and orange in the sky would not be captured, but an echo of its beauty would remain and for now, that was enough.

His mind was full most of the time these past two days since his return from the mission with Sakura. He had not seen much of her, only passing, cursory meetings when their paths randomly crossed, but he felt her presence in his mind. Now, she was never very far from his thoughts. His mind remembered the expression on her face just after their return in Tsunade's office. For once, she did not protest her restricted workload, but inclined her head and left without looking back. Very strange behavior.

He would not be able to understand her without help, so for now, he would paint the pink in the sky while imagining her hair fluttering in the breeze.

"Sai-san?"

He turned left and looked into the pale, worried eyes of the young Hyuuga heiress, Hinata. "Hyuuga-san."

"Sai-san, I am worried about Sakura."

He put his sketchbook to one side and got off the rail to face her. "What's wrong?"

"Ino took us both out for drinks, but I-I think that she has had too much. Please come and help her home."

"Why ask me? Why not take her home yourselves?"

"She... she asked for you."

xXx

As is to be expected in such situations, Sakura was in the most difficult part of the bar to reach- closest to the deafening music in the thickest part of the throng. Sai's head throbbed the closer he got to her. He forced his way through the obliviously intoxicated crowd, pushing aside limbs and bodies to reach his goal. When he finally stood behind her, he touched her lightly on the arm, abruptly halting her wild gyrations.

"Shai!" she exclaimed, throwing her arms around him, "Danse with me!"

"Sakura, I think you need to go home and sleep some of this off."

"Don't be sh-tupid.... I'm f-fine! Let's have fun..." She turned away from him and he noticed that she had a half-empty margarita glass in one hand, from which she took a hearty sip. The song with the oppressive bass line then ended and in the interim pause, the crowd whooped its appreciation as one angry beast. Sakura stood on her toes and waved her hands wildly, throwing off her balance and falling to one side.

Sai caught her wordlessly and supported her swaying frame with an arm at her waist. For a moment, her fingers flexed as though her fist was tempted to reinforce her earlier protest, but her animosity soon melted away. She let him hold her weight and guide her out the door, lazily waving goodbye to her friends and pausing momentarily to return her glass to the amused bartender.

Outside, the cold air stung both of their faces, but they could finally hear each other speak without having to shout. Sai grimaced and held her more tightly, but then his charge groaned and hung limply in his arms.

"I think... I'm going to throw up..."

One panicked trip to the bushes later, Sai was carrying an insensible kunoichi with a distinctly wilted appearance over the rooftops and into a sparely furnished flat. He kicked aside some painting supplies before laying his cargo onto an antique loveseat that puffed dust. Sakura remained upright long enough for him to locate a few frayed pillows and prop her up, then she collapsed and covered her face with her hands. He then turned on the lights, fetched a tall glass of water from the kitchen and returned to her, forcing it into her hand.

"Drink this. You are dehydrated."

"Nnngh..." She sipped at it reluctantly, her eyes resolutely closed until he turned off the lights again. Now only the glow of moonbeams allowed them sight.

"You are welcome here tonight. Rather, I request that you stay here. Finish your water and it would be best if you slept." He stood.

"No! No... please don't leave me yet..."

"All right. I'll stay." She calmed when he sat down, resting her legs on his lap. "Something has been on your mind," he observed calmly. She nodded, then scowled. "Would you like to tell me what it is?"

Her face was turned away, so he couldn't see what effect his words had beyond the stiffening of her knees. Slowly, she used both hands to push herself upright and look into his face, her eyes puffy and shining with unshed tears. "Have I done the right thing?"

"I don't understand."

"That man, in the temple... he w-was a good man. H-he thought he was d-doing the right thing. Maybe he was a bit delusional, b-but..." She broke off and fell back, staring at the ceiling.

"Something happened between you two- something more than the mission."

She nodded again. Sai wanted to ask what, but he realized that this could be sensitive information and he couldn't think of a polite way to phrase a question. Instead, he waited, folding his hands on her shins.

"He... We... No, let me try again. When we were... together, he wanted t-to please me. He cared about how I felt. I wanted to be anywhere else, but... yeah. When he saw me at the temple... I knew he knew who I was." Her chest shook.

"You don't have to say anything more."

Sakura bolted upright and flung herself into his chest, clinging tightly to his shirt. Her shoulders heaved with wet sobs. Sai was surprised, but remembered something he had seen before in a movie and gently wrapped his arms around her. She continued crying while he stroked her hair and murmured "Shh..." over and over and eventually, she grew still.

"I'm sorry," she whispered, sniffling and wiping her eyes.

"Don't be. You are sad. It is natural."

"You've been really nice, Sai. I don't know how to thank you. I could..." Before Sai knew what she was doing, Sakura had wrapped her arms around his neck and planted a sloppy kiss squarely on his surprised lips.

"Slow down," he said, catching her hands and firmly unwrapping them. "I... I have never... I mean..."

She smiled and cocked her head to one side, her hair falling prettily into her eyes. "I could teach you!"

"No. Definitely no."

"Why not? You've been crushing on me, I can tell..."

"Sakura, you are drunk. It is neither the right time, nor the right place." Sai stood and rearranged her on the couch, taking the blanket that hung over the back and covering her with it. "We can talk about it in the morning when you feel better. Goodnight."

xXx

A/N- This one took a while to get going properly, but I think it was worth it in the end. Maybe not as long as some of the previous chapters, but overall there was a lot to talk about and I didn't want to overwhelm anyone.


	7. Chapter 7

Sai's typical morning was efficient, Spartan and started early in the morning. Customarily, he went on a brisk run after waking up, but today when he silently stepped from his dark bedroom into the dimly lit living space, he remembered that he had a guest. Her form still sprawled completely across the couch, covered by a thick, lumpy quilt. Quickly, he decided to forgo his routine in favor of a more... hospitable approach.

"Good morning," he said loudly and clearly, wending his way carefully to the window. The angry lump on the couch pulled the covers over her head and snuggled deeper. "Are you hungry? I have some tea, but I can also make a little coffee if you prefer." A nondescript grunt was his answer, so he only opened the window blinds a crack; just enough to see the kitchen. Determined not to fall behind in his training, he performed quick stretching routines in the time it took to steep a pot of tea.

"Do you like eggs? I can soft boil or scramble a couple." The lump sighed but otherwise didn't move, so he got crazy and poached them. Deliberately, he wafted the scent towards the living room and behold, his hung-over teammate was drawn to the aroma of toast and lightly salted eggs. He set a loaded plate for her across the little table and poured strong, green tea for them both.

"Did you sleep well?" he asked pleasantly. Sakura shook pink hair from her eyes and after thinking it over, nodded. Immediately, she winced and held her temples. Sai held his lips steady and passed her the jam, some of which made it onto her toast. After a little while of eating contentedly, Sakura set down her teacup with her eyes fixed on her fingers.

"Thank you," she said softly, chewing the corner of her lip, "For letting me stay the night. I hope that I didn't offend you... or embarrass myself."

Sai's cup hesitated partway to his mouth. Last night was perfectly clear to him, but he wasn't sure exactly what she remembered. There was a chance that the period of time right before she fell asleep was unclear in her mind and though he had a few questions that wanted answers, he didn't know if it was wise to ask them. This probably wasn't the time to open difficult subjects.

"No, of course not. You are always welcome to my couch."

Her answer was a smile, but she left shortly after breakfast, even making cheerful promises to "See you later!" Sai cleaned up slowly, thinking about the past few days. Last night, she accused him of having a crush; was that true? By this point, he was so lost and confused about what he felt that he would believe anything. What precisely constituted having a crush? More importantly, what was he supposed to do about it?

His eyes flicked to the disorderly stack of books beside the couch. Useless. Of all the books he read, none gave him a definitive description of what love was, it was like to be in love, or what to do should you find yourself in love. You would think that after dealing with the problem for so long that someone would have some answers; after all, the topic seemed to dominate the lives of his friends.

So, what should he do now? He dried his hands and returned to the couch, kicking off his shoes. He sketched objects idly and thought about it for a while, then came up with a few, logical options. Option one: he could tell her how he felt. On one hand, she was better equipped to help him understand his emotions and then, everything would be out in the open, so there was no reason to be awkward and secretive, which would keep the team functioning well. On the other hand, there was a very real fear that if he was too blunt, she would react as she did with Naruto and punch him in the face. He wasn't sure his ego or his bone structure could handle that. Oddly, he also grew nauseas when he considered talking to her about these kinds of emotions.

Option two, he would do nothing. This, like any other emotion, would probably pass with time and enough apathy. Sai could bury his feelings and refuse to act, thereby removing the problem completely and, bonus, Sakura would never know. Unfortunately, when he thought about it, he realized that this could be the best opportunity for romance he was likely to get. People, much less attractive women, didn't tend to like him much and at the very least, Sakura tolerated his presence. She talked to him, asked questions about his life and generally acted like a friend. She made him smile.

No, he wasn't going to wait around, sulking in shame. He would do something about his feelings...

...but he was going to need some help.

xXx

It was only during the off months of the year that Ino returned to watching her parent's flower shop. Her parents wanted time off in late summer for their vacation and, conveniently, there weren't many missions at that time, so she was able to take over for them during their absence. It was a boring job, but her rent was just steep enough that she didn't feel comfortable not taking any work that came her way, so she inevitably went back. Sadly, she always felt a little trapped behind the clear glass storefront, as though she had taken a step backwards into her school years where life had been both more and less clearly defined. In school, the rules of social interaction and love were easier to understand and the penalties for breaking them were usually less severe, but the tradeoff was a lack of depth or meaning in your relationships and the surrender of one's freedom.

Nowadays, who understood romance? Men promised you the world, treated you like an angel and swept you right off your feet and straight into the dumpster once they had what they wanted. It made sense; the life of a ninja was brutal. Men who weren't tough enough or fast enough, who let their emotions get in the way found themselves on the wrong side of a kunai very quickly. Understandable? Yes. Frustrating? Most definitely. It made a great case for lesbianism, anyway.

Ino played with a pen, pushing it back and forth across the front counter, trying not to wish that she were elsewhere. The clock seemed perfectly fixed at five minutes until her lunch break, but this morning had been the kind of morning where even ignoring the clock altogether didn't make time move more quickly.

Movement at the front door up by the peonies suddenly caught her attention. A figure in black faced away from the shop, but stood close enough that Ino wondered if he was going to stay outside or come in. From the way his head turned back and forth, he was probably checking to see that no one was watching him. Finally, his pale hand shot out and opened the door, stiffening at the merry sound of the bell.

"Hi!" Ino shouted gleefully to her stoic customer. Sai hesitated, but waved stiffly in response and approached the counter. "How can I help you this afternoon?" she bubbled, tossing her hair over one shoulder and increasing his discomfort tenfold.

"I need... some... advice," Sai answered, clearly choosing his words carefully. His eyes flicked from one bouquet to the next as if a microphone might be hiding in one.

"Ooooh, about what?"

His fingers curled and uncurled as if seeking something to hold onto to keep him from bolting. He looked at an arrangement of irises and as nonchalantly as possible stroked a leaf. "A girl."

Ino leaped gracefully over the counter and loped down the main aisle to lock the door. She hung up the sign advertising her lunch-related absence and quickly returned to the puzzled young man, taking him by the wrists and leading him back into the kitchen. "Sit there," she said, pointing to a wooden chair at a circular, scrubbed table. She hummed merrily to herself while she took a pot of miso soup out of the bright yellow fridge and set it on the stove. "Is this a tea conversation or a brandy conversation?"

"...Tea is fine."

"Suit yourself." She set a plain, unmedicated cup of tea in front of him, but took down the brandy from the cabinet over the stove and improved her own cup. The kitchen was the homiest part of the flower shop and attached apartment. It was decorated in canary yellow and eggshell white that glowed with happiness when the sun shone in through the picture windows in two walls. Ultimately, it was the best place to discuss romance. "So, tell me all about your problems."

Sai met her intent gaze, looked away, and then looked back. "How do you know when you have a crush on someone?"

Ino considered for a moment, reflecting on her own experiences. "Do you think about her often?"

"All the time."

"What would you say to her right now if you could?"

"I would tell her how grateful I am for her friendship. I would tell her that she's an amazing woman, the most compassionate I've ever known. I would tell her how much I admire her strength and how sorry I am for what she has had to go through. I would tell her that, if she wanted me, she wouldn't have to go through something like that alone ever again."

The blonde forcibly suppressed her urge to squeal loudly by flipping her hair and taking a swig of brandy-tea. "What would you do to make her happy?"

"...Anything she wanted, but I don't know what that would be."

Dramatically, she cradled her head in her locked fingers and propped her elbows on the table. "Hm... Sounds like you have it bad. This goes beyond a crush."

Sai blinked and drew his eyebrows together in confusion. "What comes after a crush?"

Ino pushed her chair back and stood, waving a hand at him. "That's not important right now. You are very seriously interested in this woman and you need to woo her properly- really sweep her off her feet!" She set down two steaming bowls of soup for them. "What you need to do is ask her on a date."

"A date?"

"Yes. A romantic outing." She was met by a blank stare. "All right, look: here's what you're going to do..."

xXx

A/N- My toes wiggle with delight for these next couple of chapters. Please review- I could use the feedback, even if it's negative.


	8. Chapter 8

How could a woman own as many clothes as Sakura and yet still find nothing to wear? Another pink blouse joined its friends on the mounting rejection pile covering the bed, but she was running out of clothes and time. This morning, in the smoothest, most casual way possible, Sai had invited her out. There was no occasion or event specified, he only smiled his mysterious non-smile and promised to arrive early, leaving her completely surprised and speechless.

The clock said 7:23- she had 7 minutes left to throw together something appropriate, but what was appropriate? Was this a date? How was she supposed to tell? If he made a move on her, there would be no doubt as to his intentions, but even if he were romantically inclined, would he try at all?

No, no, no. There was no way she could navigate that social minefield, she decided, stalking to the bathroom and seizing her hairbrush. She brushed her hair with long, deliberate strokes, staring intently at herself in the mirror, murmuring distractedly to herself.

Three evenly spaced knocks reverie with a shot of nervous adrenaline. Sakura dropped the brush with a clatter. She grabbed a red, off-the-shoulder sweater from the middle of the pile and threw it on, sprinting for the door but pausing to step into her shoes, nearly tripping. A hard lump rose in her throat, but her feet moved along to the door and found a bunch of irises thrust into her face.

"These are for you," said Sai redundantly, smiling.

xXx

Sai walked easily beside his teammate down the streets of Konoha, just becoming busy with nightlife. He asked her what she wanted to eat and suggested a very nice restaurant when she answered 'tempura', but she so eagerly professed a desire for her usual local tempura stand that he could only smile as she darted around passersby, only her goal in mind.

He watched her order. She leaned over the counter to see what was on the stove, the seat of her skirt pulled taut over her muscles. "What looks good to you?" she asked, waving him over. His eyes snapped up immediately, a faint blush warming his cheeks, and he joined her quickly. They ordered a few things together and took seats at the completely empty counter.

"Is it good?" he asked, watching her devour crunchy, shrimpy goodness.

"Delicious, as always." She smiled radiantly. Sai returned her expression and sampled her dish. "That's right," he realized, "You haven't been at the hospital, so you haven't come here for lunch!" She nodded, sipping a bottle of iced tea. "How has that felt?"

She capped the bottle firmly and took her chopsticks. "It's been fine. Completely fine. I mean, I needed the break anyway. Nothing like working hard all day and coming home completely exhausted." She dug through her rice harshly, as though looking for a last crumble of fried crisp. "Working with patients, studying rare diseases..."

"You're bored, aren't you?"

"I have no idea what to do with myself. I've never had so little to do. What am I supposed to do? I don't have any hobbies... Medicine and training is all I do."

"You dance."

Her eyes flicked over to him. "This is true. I do go dancing occasionally. Sometimes. It's less frequent than it used to be." She became very interested in dipping her food in sauce. "I can't do that all the time."

"What would you like to do?" he asked, taking a small bite of his own tempura.

She looked up, pink hair falling away from her face. "I don't know. I don't really know what's available to do." Her knees turned toward him as she faced him with interest, her bowl perched on top. "What do you do?"

He crossed his ankles on the stool, hiding the fact that her sudden interest affected him. "I draw. I paint. I read a little, but the books I've been reading aren't as useful as I had hoped." He finally looked into her eyes. There was a little sadness around her mouth the longer she thought about it, which concerned him. Could he do something about it? There was an idea...

"Sakura?"

"Hm?"

"Will you let me draw you?" he asked as though the idea had just occurred to him.

She set her chopsticks across her bowl thoughtfully. "Well... I don't see why n-..."

"Nude?" There was a long silence while Sai waited to see if she would hit him.

"You want to draw me."

"Yes."

"Naked."

"Yes."

"_Why?_"

Because I need to know if you are the one causing me to lose control of myself and I think seeing you at your most exposed and vulnerable would give me an incontrovertible answer. "Because I've never drawn a woman before."

She quirked her eyebrows. "Does it have to be _nude_?"

"Well... no... I suppose not... but I would like to start out properly. Clothes create folds that are unnatural to the folds of the body. They distort proportions."

"Unnatural?"

"Yes."

"It's your first time drawing a woman and you think _nude_ is the proper way to go about it?"

"Yes."

"Ok, then."

"Y-- really?"

"Yes. I figure that if you get out of line I can show you how to get back in line." Her smile was thoroughly devious and sent delicious shivers down his spine.

His enthusiasm bubbled under his skin. "When are you free?"

"Eto... Friday. Late afternoon." Sakura grinned impishly. "Where are we going to be?"

"At my apartment."

"At...your apartment?"

"You don't trust me."

"No. Well, maybe. No! I trust you... some of the time. It's just... your apartment... naked..." Her hands clasped and unclasped.

"You feel it is improper."

"...yes."

"I'll close the blinds." Finally, she laughed and though it was awkward, the moment was over. Instead, they talked about the composition of a painting, color relationships and how to choose subject matter, however Sai tactfully refrained from mentioning the audience's desire to view the unclad female form. They talked until the stall owner informed them that it was closing time and they had to leave.

"What will we do now?" Sakura asked, gazing at the dark lights with pouting lips.

"You like to dance, right?" She nodded. "Let's go dance."

xXx

The club was full and noisy. Drinks floated around in the dim, flashing lights, supported by fast waitresses in glittering heels. Standing tables lined the dance floor, lit with flickering candles, but an enormous, writhing crowd was the largest occupant of the room, swaying and jumping to throbbing beats emanating from giant stacks of speakers.

"Do you know how to dance?" Sakura asked with glittering eyes. She sipped an innocent glass of coke, though he noticed that her eyes followed the iced daiquiris that passed.

Awkward memories swam in his mind. "I was trained, but I have never used my knowledge in a practical setting." He watched her excited smile warily, but offering a slight lift of his expression.

"Would you like to?" Her foot bounced perfectly in time with the beat.

Wordlessly, he set down his beer, rose and stood before her. Her surprise was met with a simple bow and an extended hand. "Sakura-chan, it would honor me greatly if you join me on the dance floor." Even in the dim light, Sai could see her bright lips fall open. She closed her mouth and smiled before accepting his invitation.

Somewhere among the dancers, they found a bare space and occupied it, facing each other. Sai drew her close, his right hand cupping her shoulder blade, while Sakura clasped their hands close to their bodies. Together, they floated through the crowd, using their superior periphery vision to navigate around grinding bodies.

"You are quite light on your feet," commented Sai, releasing her body to guide her through a narrow path between two other couples.

"Thank you," she replied, the green in her eyes flashing when she returned to their frame. "You lead very gracefully- never pushing, just showing. It's a very rare skill." Her face was flushed with the heat of the dance floor and his compliment.

"I think you will find," replied Sai slowly, "that... I am very skilled... in many things."

Sakura's giant grin told him that he had created his innuendo well and that it was appreciated. He returned the grin with relief. Ino's crash course had worked. Was Sakura impressed?

She leaned so close to him that her hair tickled his throat. "Maybe I'll have to find out what those things are!" Her giggle was barely audible above the fast music. He swallowed. When she leaned into him like this, her breasts pressed into his chest and it was hard for him to think about anything decent. Most interestingly, the music and his heartbeat no longer lined up.

Abruptly, the gap between them returned. Sai realized that they hadn't moved for several seconds, though the people around them surged in as much earnest as ever. Sakura seemed uncomfortable; her hands were stiff in his and her posture had become more rigid than before. He looked at her face to see if it was his own nerves that had set her off, or something else, but she didn't meet his eyes. Valiantly, he led her once more through the din, but even he realized that her mind was somewhere else.

"Hey," he said brightly, "Do you want a drink?" She glanced at him quickly as though she had just remembered she was dancing with him. "Or even better," he amended himself, "Let's leave. It's loud and crowded here."

xXx

Sakura didn't know where they were going, but he had her hand firmly, leading her away from the center of town. He didn't look back at her, didn't slow his pace when they left the nightlife behind, didn't veer from his course.

"I wasn't sure if you would be tired of me by this point or not, so I didn't plan for much else," he said, smiling curiously, "But there's enough sunlight left that we could climb Hokage Mountain in time to see the sunset."

She looked to the west and saw a few last desperate rays of sunlight reaching over the mountains. "You're right, but we'll have to hurry." He dropped her hand and shot into the distance, his frightening speed turning him into a speck that darted across rooftops. She followed him immediately, soon jumping through trees and hurdling branches, then scrambling up boulders. She didn't realize that he was going to go straight up the rock face.

Sai was standing on the First Hokage's forehead when she caught up to him. "There," he said, waving her over, "We made it in time." The sky looked like it was on fire, blazing with orange and pink. Slowly, the pink tinged-clouds darkened to purple and red while the sun slipped further over the edge of the world, turning the sky iridescent indigo. Sai sat crosslegged and gestured that she should sit beside him. After a moment of hesitation, she did. They watched the first pinpricks of light peek out through the color and bring the dark blue of night with them.

"Wow."

"Yes. Breathtaking."

Suddenly, Sakura shivered. The rock was cold, the air was cold and she didn't have a jacket. Sai immediately unfolded his legs, scooted closer and threw his arm around her. "I'm sorry," he said, looking at her so that his nose brushed her long bangs. "I didn't realize it would get so chilly. We can go back."

"No... no, I'd like to stay a little longer." Neither spoke for a long while. Sakura couldn't think of anything to say, but Sai seemed content to hold her in silence. His eyes slowly moved from one place to another; a good ninja was always aware of his surroundings. Her mind chattered, turning in circles and considering.

"Sai?" she said quietly.

"Yes?" He faced her again. They were so close that his breath played across her cheeks.

"Aren't you going to kiss me?" she said a bit suddenly. She realized that after she said it, there was practically no context for her question, but she stuck with it anyway.

"Am I supposed to?"

She blushed, but in the dark, it was hard to see. "If you wanted to... you could."

Sai looked into her eyes for a moment longer, then leaned in slowly and pressed his lips to hers lightly. He felt her smile, then return his kiss, pressing into him with more vigor and brushing his arm with her fingertips. Almost as an afterthought, Sai's hand drifted up to touch her face. He kissed her again, mimicking her style; she responded by swiping her tongue quickly across his bottom lip, which surprised him. Though the climb had not winded them in the least, when they finally parted, the teammates were breathing heavily.

"Shall we leave?" she suggested.

"Yours or mine?"

"Better make it yours."

He kissed her one more time, savoring the sensation, then they raced down the mountain, leaping over impossible rocks and freefalling a good deal of the way in their haste. When they reached the forest, however, they drew up short.

"Excuse me, are you Sakura Haruno?" A short, older woman in a long, brown dress stood before the fringe of trees. She stared at Sakura through the dark with piercing hazel eyes, leaning on a curved, wooden cane. On either side of her stood two, tall men, both dressed entirely in black and wearing prominent kunai at their hips.

Sakura stepped in front of Sai. "Have we met?"

"No. My name is Hiroko Yoshida and Daigoro Yoshida was my husband."

xXx

A/N- My apologies, but you're probably in for another long wait. I have no bloody idea where this confrontation is going. Normally a response to an anonymous comment would be placed in the front of the chapter, but I was lazy.

anonesque- Yes. Exactly. That scene was written disturbingly and perhaps insensitively similar to an instance of rape _except_ (I'm looking at you, Fanfiction Mods) that there was consent. This was a deliberate and calculated piece of writing. It messed her up. Why was she drunk out of her mind in the following chapters? Precisely that reason. This is something I wanted to include for two reasons. 1) This was a large part of an actual female ninja's historical duties (I gathered that female ninjas were more like spies than anything else) and 2) though Sakura gave her verbal consent, her partner, if he was a little less drunk, maybe, should have picked up that something was wrong. I just wanted to put that out there.


	9. Chapter 9

A/N- Dearest readers, I have a confession; not a big, life-changing confession, just a little one. Originally, this story was intended to be pretty short, maybe three chapters, but as they do, it got a bit out of hand. I scrambled together and planned out the story until roughly last chapter... with the exception of Hiroko. She was a little bit throw-it-in. (Unfortunately, I think it shows.) At this moment, there are a few things I'm wishing I could ret-con, but I'll figure out a work-around.

So here is what's going to happen: I am going to throw down this chapter as hard as I can and see what happens. I humbly beg my audience to leave me reviews giving their opinions on the story so far, what they think should happen next and more importantly, how long it should be. Somewhere in here, I'll pick up a story thread again.

xXx

"My name is Hiroko Yoshida and Daigoro Yoshida was my husband."

"Y... Yoshida?" Sakura's knees trembled. Quickly, Sai appeared at her side, but she decided not to show her sudden weakness by taking his hand, instead leaning against his solid body. "Your husband?"

The older woman stood taller and indignantly cocked an eyebrow. "Yes. My husband," she repeated as if talking to a four-year-old with an attention problem. "Did you think perhaps that he was unloved? Unattached? I assure you, my husband of thirty years was anything but."

"Excuse me, Madam," said Sai in a clear, unwavering voice. "Miss Sakura is a kunoichi. She was merely performing her duty as given to her by her superior."

"What do you know about it?" demanded the widow Yoshida crisply, not bothering to take her eyes from her target.

"Sakura is my teammate," he replied, betraying himself with mechanically even tones. "It was my duty to assist her in the completion of her mission."

Finally, her glittering hazel eyes bore into his inky black ones. "So. It won't be for nothing that I have you both killed." She folded her perfect hands together in front of her stomach. On either side of her, the tall men stepped forward, not making any other movement, but clearly preparing themselves. "These are the brothers Hyogo. I hired them at great expense to perform a neat and tidy job. Be good little lambs and don't struggle."

Sai's body stiffened. "Those are S level shinobi," he hissed through his teeth. "I saw them in Kakashi's bingo book!"

"Correct," said the man on the right in a light, floating voice, politely inclining his head. Effortlessly, his stance was perfectly balanced and looked as flexible as liquid, exactly like his brother's. Both men were covered head to toe in classic black skin-suits so that their bodies blended into the night sky and the only visible parts of them were their white hands and a narrow strip at the face for their shining black eyes to peep out. Interestingly, neither man wore a hitae-ite. "My brother and I are well known for our work," he continued, addressing them equally and with apparent deliberation, bringing his hand to his hip where Sakura could clearly see the handle of his kunai. Was he giving them a chance to take initiative?

"Unlike yourselves," added the other man, seemingly unable to stop himself. His voice was pitched like his brother's, but rougher, less refined. Clearly, Sakura thought to herself while mentally running through her inventory of weapons, this is the muscle whereas the latter is the mind. _Kuso!_ Shamefully, she had but one, pitiful weapon at hand, a lone shuriken that had been forgotten in the recesses of her purse, along with her fan. Sai, she had noticed earlier, had brought his whole shinobi kit like a proper chuunin. Even if they were both fully armed, however, this wasn't going to be an even fight in any respect.

"Obaa-chan!" she yelled suddenly in a voice reminiscent of their missing teammate, "This fight is between you and me! I'm unarmed, so why don't you fight me yourself?"

Hiroko's formerly complacent and indifferent smile suddenly twisted wryly. She had seen through the girl's challenge without hesitation. "Hmmm... no," she taunted, brandishing her upper-hand, "Why should I do my own dirty work?"

It took all the control she had to keep her voice from cracking with fear. "Prove to me you actually cared about your husband! Sending out someone else for your revenge? How is that avenging his honor? Are you a coward?"

"I tire of your game," the older woman said dismissively, patting her graying bun back in place. "I have no time to waste words on a dead kunoichi."

Before Yoshida had finished speaking, Sai's hands shoved Sakura violently to one side. She heard the dull sound of something lodging in solid flesh and smelled the metallic tang of blood. Stoic Sai made no sound when he wrenched the kunai from his thigh and threw it to her, but breathed deeply before pulling out his drawing paper and using his finger to draw lions on it with his own blood.

A brief flicker in the air was the only hint that something was amiss just before Sai appeared to vanish. Even to her highly-trained eyes, neither enemy shinobi looked as if they had moved, but her teammate was now lodged in a tree and his unfurled scroll trailed pitifully through the air behind him like a falling streamer bearing only half a sketched animal. Immediately, Sakura's shaking hands flashed with green chakra through two hand seals. "Sumiyaka no jutsu!" This jutsu would enhance her speed up to 100 times; hopefully it would be enough to track her opponents.

Soon after, her she heard the whistle of moving air behind her and without pausing, she flung out both of her fists infused with enough chakra to crack open a mountain with her monstrous strength, but her hands only swung through empty air. Her feet flew out from under her and she was launched into the air like a ragdoll, spinning so violently that she forgot which way gravity pulled her. Quickly, her eyes latched onto the only prominent feature in the sky- the slender crescent moon- and she was able to steady herself.

She was right: this wasn't a fair fight. Somewhere below her, she heard the desperate sounds of a one-sided struggle. Each of Sai's attack names were brutally silenced before completion, usually followed by tree-shaking cracks or sounds of flesh-on-flesh. Though they were both strong shinobi, Sakura and Sai simply weren't experienced enough to compete with S-rank fighters. Clearly, these men were toying with their prey and poor Sai was taking the brunt of it. What could she do? "We may need a miracle to survive this," she whispered to the stars, not sure whether they were listening or not. She needed to think of something that would get the attention of someone in Konoha who could help... or gather the remains.

Since her mind was reeling much faster than its normal speed, she only needed a fraction of a second to decide how to turn her current position into an advantage. Using her limbs to manipulate her flight, Sakura pointed herself directly at the earth as if she were going to dive into it. She pressed her fists together, loaded them once more with chakra and let herself fall. The bitter night wind screamed past her ears made all the more deafening by virtue of a three-second drop lasting an entire minute.

The ground sundered apart, swallowing her and several trees. The waves of impact shook her so aggressively that she coughed blood and nearly vomited as well. There was an unfortunate possibility that she was also temporarily deaf. As soon as she was able, she wriggled upwards, desperate to reach Sai and the surface, but someone gripped her ankle and she felt the familiar sensation of teleportation.

She slammed into the ground again, this time flat on her back, and involuntarily hacked up more blood.

"That was some stunt you pulled," said Hiroko's voice, calm with anger. "You might have woken half the town." Her quiet footsteps grew close. "There is a lesson to be learned here, even before you die." Her polished wooden cane tapped the ground beside Sakura's limp head, then pushed her nose until the kunoichi was forced to look up into Hiroko's smooth face. "Power is only as useful as you make it. You can have all the land and all the soldiers and all the shinobi you want, but if they sit by idly while your country rots to shit, you have no real power. _I_ know better." She let Sakura's head drop, which caused her hair to swing into her eyes.

Sakura finally realized the complete hopelessness of their situation when she saw Sai thrown on the ground beside her. His face was dark with blood and his arm lay unnaturally twisted, suggesting a dislocated shoulder or elbow. He had barely fought for five minutes, but was already completely subdued. She scanned his body with only her eyes, taking in the full extent of his injuries and watching his chakra slowly ebb and fade. Then, it occurred to Sakura that they might really die here.

"I know how to use men to their fullest extent, like my poor husband. He never had the slightest clue that anything he did wasn't really his idea. Do you know how long it took me to get him to pull that stupid group together? And you... it took you one night of recklessness to pull it all apart!"

_Crack!_ Hiroko's cane whistled through the air and cut a mark across Sakura's ribs, distracting her from her attempts to send out her healing chakra through the air to Sai, whose eyelashes fluttered at the sound. His fingertips twitched almost imperceptibly.

"It will take me ages to start again..." The widow Yoshida muttered for a moment longer, then abruptly seemed to have satisfied herself. "We are done here." She turned away. In that infinitesimal moment, Sai's hand flew to his hip and drew out a fan, which he snapped open. Sakura saw the phoenix begin to flutter, but a spark of fire crackled through the air and burned the paper away, then burned Sai's chest. He lost consciousness partway through a scream of protest.

Through her horror, Sakura realized that _she still had her fan._ She had completely forgotten that it could be used for communication. In these last few moments, she just needed to buy herself enough time to send off the phoenix to Konoha and maybe pray that it would be enough.

Her foot scraped the surface of the ground, kicking up pebbles, pine needles and dirt, then hooked on the cane of her oppressor. It went flying and Hiroko Yoshida stumbled backwards, allowing Sakura to spring up and use chakra-enforced feet to leap into the air. From the purse that was hooked in her pants, she pulled out both the shuriken and the fan, throwing one behind her to redirect the tendril of fire that followed her and opening the other to wave through the air.

"GO!" she screamed at the fan, which responded instantly. The ink peeled away from the page and grew, flapping and screeching and generally serving as a giant beacon for their position. Searing heat engulfed her legs, turning her scream into a ragged shriek, then gasps for air and finally silence in complete darkness.

xXx

A/N- Once again, please review. I need all the help I can get.


	10. Chapter 10

A/N- My sincerest apologies for the delay in updating, however I was in Colorado at a music camp and couldn't practically do anything without my computer. I continued to write, so here you are, but one note about this chapter: this chapter will serve as a signpost for the fractured narrative to come. This will be my first real experience splitting the party, so it might be a little rough, but the journey will be fun enough. Final note, you are going to be confused here in the beginning, but on the plus side, it was time for some lemon. Enjoy.

xXx

No, there was nothing else in the world as thrilling as this. There was no rush of power as intoxicating nor arousal as gripping as that caused by the feel of a young woman's bare skin. He stood above his latest prize observing the careful display of her delicate form. The dark mahogany table that supported her bound torso contrasted with her ivory-pale skin and wide, darting eyes hidden behind a strip of black cotton. Her slender legs hung straight from the waist over the desk's edge, but even so, her toes only barely skimmed the carpet. This little beauty was payment for services rendered (or rather, services _not_ rendered) for yet another insignificant village of stupid commoners. He absently trailed a rough, calloused hand across her backside, raising goose bumps on her skin, and noticed that one entire buttock fit comfortably in his palm. The week's worth of threats, rumormongering and intimidation were completely worth this moment. He intended to enjoy himself thoroughly.

To let her anticipation grow, he slowly strode away, carefully remaining out of her field of vision, and drew the curtains closed, blocking out even the faint sliver of moonlight streaming in through the beautiful, long windows. With her sight thusly hindered, her other senses would frantically redouble, allowing him maximum effect for minimal effort. He removed his belt, letting the buckle jingle freely, the response to which was a quiet gasp. He also let his suit jacket slide from his shoulders and folded it precisely across the back of the rolling, leather desk chair.

She was good and scared now, no doubt; she thought he was going to fuck her. Her maidenhood was surely his assumed price. In a way, it was, but it was beneath him to take a girl's virginity without her choice and especially when it wasn't something he had hunted for himself. What he wanted in reality was something much more delicate... and much more precious.

He took his place behind her once more, carefully preventing anything touch her, not even the cuff of his sleeve, though his slacks already bulged prominently. He let the quiet stretch on until her wrists stopped pulling against their cloth restraint and her breathing paused, completing the silence. It was only then that he let his hands warm the backs of her thighs from the indent behind her knees to the sweet curve of her ass with the slowest stroke he thought she could endure. The soft pressure of his hands caused her legs to part and expose the tender petals of her sex to the cool air. He allowed himself a moment for his eyes to finish adjusting to the darkness so he could see its dim outline, curving gently away from the straight horizontal and vertical lines of her prone body. He would return to that, but there was much more of her body to explore first. Standing on the other side of the desk now, he tucked a stray lock of long hair back into her wide blindfold and trailed his thumb lazily across her lower lip. Immediately, she licked away the feel and pressed her face closer to the desk, her face growing violently warm. He grinned openly in the darkness and reached lower, pulling on her shoulder until she was obliged to roll partially onto her side.

Her body was still long, streamlined by youth and unburdened by the weight of later maturity. Her father had assured him of her pristine morality, but he found it hard to imagine that a young man had not, at the very least, been permitted to observe her unclad form. This reasonable possibility didn't concern him in the least; young men rarely knew what to do with a ripe, young girl. By the same token, young women rarely knew what to do with their own bodies, but this would no longer be a gap in this young lady's education.

Absently, he cupped her small breast, feeling its delicacy and tweaking the nipple that quickly formed a tight bud, an exciting sign though his mind was already upon his next act. He laid her in her former position, facedown, then from a side table picked up a crystal tumbler half-full of a pungent liquid and took a sip. He also reached in and pulled out one of three partially melted ice cubes. It was so cold that it stung his palms, but he pressed his hands together until they were both wet and cold, then took the remaining sliver of ice and placed it at the base of her neck, right on the vertebrae between her shoulder blades. Of its own accord, it slipped down the slope of her back and for the first time, elicited a soft, but throaty moan. As her first expression of pleasure died away, he reached between her legs and brushed against her sex, his chilly fingertips a sharp contrast to her heat. He parted her burning lips and her body instantly drew a ragged gasp. His knuckle stroked her most intimate flesh, teasing the little nub that made her hands twitch.

"No..." she protested softly with a high, fluttery voice. Her legs pressed closed on his hand. "No..."

"Ah, ah," he corrected in a low rumble, moving her feet apart again with his own and tweaking her pearl in punishment. She groaned, pressing her face into the desk, her face surely burning scarlet. Her knees shook, still trying in vain to protect her modesty, but his hand felt a new slipperiness. Perfect.

The art of a woman's orgasm was a delicate, fragile process. The actual actions needed to be firm and deliberate, but quick to change in the light of new desires. With an experienced lover, it was easy to draw forth communication that helped the activity progress, but with a virgin, the only communication came from her body. Gently, he stroked her wet lips, first the outside, then the inside, up and down. Her skin was still mostly smooth, only lightly dotted with fine, blonde hair and just as sensitive as the rest of her body. He reveled in the way one stroke caused her to shiver and another caused her knees to lock, then chose a speed that matched the quick rhythm of her breath. The reward was a long, soft moan of surprise and satisfaction, but it wasn't long before each breath became a yearning squeak, which he took as his signal to speed his fingers along.

He could feel the electricity of her body riding on the edge. Should he be cruel and deny her or should he prolong her pleasure until the effort drove her crazy?

No. No, he would be merciful enough to give her the release she knew she needed, but had never experienced. He turned over his hand and used the soft pads of his fingers to manipulate her little clit and its thin sheath. A fine perspiration blossomed down her back and thighs, highlighting the rosy tint of her skin. Her hands struggled against their binding in vain while her back flexed and even her toes scrabbled for purchase in the carpet.

"Ah!" she panted, her voice rising quickly. "Moto! Onegai..."

Her orgasm came in short, punctuated waves heralded by a long, lusty moan and the crash of her knees against the desk drawers. He let her body boil, writhing against the wood until her gasps indicated that the continued touch of his fingers was painful. He watched her skin flush and twitch a moment longer, then took back his hand, drained the last of his drink in one swallow and left. His assistant stood outside the door a respectful distance away holding a magnificent bird of prey on his raised arm. "Message hawk for you, sir."

xXx

"Have you done what I asked?"

"Yes, Yoshida-sama."

"Good." A pair of hard shoes scuffled closer harshly. "Ugh. I suppose we should do something about that before we move her. Make sure they know to contain her."

"What should I do about the..."

"Do I look like I care? Throw alcohol on it."

"Won't that wake her up?"

"That might make this easier. Go ahead."

The shoes receded, but their noise was replaced by the scrape of a chair and some very loud swearing. Sakura couldn't hear the next few words, but a deafening crash was heard before a rough hand seized her cheek. This would have been uncomfortable enough, but then her neck burned with the intensity of 12 suns. If she could have breathed, Sakura would have screamed loud enough to deafen her assailant. Instead, her knee reflexively jerked upward and connected brutally with a less-than-flexible surface. With barely a whispered groan, the offender collapsed to the floor, which, judging by the sound he made, was wooden.

"Good, you did wake up. You owe me a new intern."

Sakura blearily looked for the source of Hiroko's extremely close voice. "D-did the chair offend you personally?" she asked slowly, trying out her raw vocal chords and indicating the lopsided piece of furniture with an inaccurate nod of the head. Her mouth was painfully dry but swallowing did not help.

"Hmph. Your humor survived. Pity. How do you feel?"

Sakura considered the question carefully. Her vision was narrow and fuzzy, only enough to make out a chair, a desk and the outline of Hiroko's torso. Experimentally, she pulled her wrists down and was rewarded with the cruel sound of metal on metal and the new knowledge that her muscles didn't yet have enough circulation to support themselves fully. The pain on her neck was receding, but she was aware of the stinging antiseptic liquid dripping under the collar of her blouse and down her chest, which was possibly the most bothersome sensation in the world directly under having a pebble in one's shoe. "All things considered, I've been better." Truthful, but she was disturbed by her lack of knowledge.

"Good enough."

The room was dark. In her peripheral vision, she saw that dark reddish curtains drawn across an entire wall, so it was impossible to tell what time of day it was. "Why am I here?"

"Because I wanted you to be here," Hiroko replied matter-of-factly, hiding the steel of her annoyance. "I found a use for you, a use that will be more profitable than outright killing you. Of course, your personal worth versus the damage I will undoubtedly incur from your village's attempts to recover you almost forced me to forgo my plans. Your little signal fire caused me quite the headache."

_Good,_ thought Sakura. _At least the village now knows that something is wrong. I need to find out how long I have been out so I know whether or not to expect a rescue mission any time soon._

"Signal fire?" she whispered, pretending not to remember. "When did I light a fire?"

"That damnable jutsu you performed just before my man took you. Doubtless it sapped the last of your strength." She smirked unpleasantly to herself. "Made you an easy target."

Sakura didn't have the energy to rise to her bait. She was more concerned by the fact that her question had not been answered with a time frame. "So... what are you planning on doing with me?"

"Selling you," Hiroko replied promptly, busying herself with tidying stacks of paper. "I have a woman who specializes in just the kind of transaction I want for you. With luck, she should have a buyer within the week, but I _will_ have to get you cleaned up. For that, it would be easier for all concerned if you weren't awake to incapacitate more of my staff, so you will be chloroformed. Good night." Hiroko turned to a door in the bookshelf-lined wall behind her.

"Wait!" gasped Sakura, accidentally pulling roughly against her chains and jangling her joints. Her captor waited impatiently for her to catch her breath. "Where is S... my teammate?"

Hiroko's face was unreadable. She spoke deliberately after a long pause. "Dead."

xXx

"Gentleman and Ladies, we have a situation. You all saw the jutsu tonight and I presume each of you know what this means, but for the sake of documentation, I shall clarify."

Hinata looked at Ino, who looked at Lee, who looked at Naruto. Of course they had seen the brilliantly burning phoenix fly, screeching, towards the Hokage's home from the silent forest. Any ninja with a pair of ears for miles in every direction had seen and heard its loud signal. Even more memorable had been the sight of the Hokage, Tsunade-hime herself, flying down the stairs from her office out to the street of startled shinobi clad in only an emerald green dressing gown. "Why are you all standing here?" she had demanded, heedless of the distraction created by the loose clasps of her robe threatening to fall open. "Find them!"

The feverish woman of last night was not the same person who sat before them now and to remind her of last night's desperation and indiscretion would be inappropriate. Even the bird that had glowed blindingly red last night had changed into an inky black form, unconsciously reflecting the atmosphere and mood of the group from his perch on the Hokage's chair. "Sakura has been taken by the head of the effort to remove the Daimyo," said Tsunade, interrupting the reflections of her team. "This is not a hostage situation and no demands have been made. In fact under law, this event is seen as theft." She held back a derisive, treasonous snort.

"Under normal circumstances, I would consider it a strategic disadvantage to assign ninja to a mission in which there is an emotional investment, but," she said urgently, turning from the windows with their expansive view of her village to sit heavily at her desk and disturb the bird-drawing, "a personal commitment may be exactly what saves Sakura. I need you to track her and recover her. _Don't_ try to engage the enemy; this is for reconnaissance and rescue _only_." Tsunade turned a pointed gate to hot-headed Naruto first, met his serious stare, then briefly looked into the eyes of every other young shinobi present.

"Here are your mission packets," she continued, gesturing that Shizune should pass out sealed manila folders. "These will detail what was found at the scene last night after evidence recovery and give you suggestions of where to begin a search."

Hinata raised a hand. "How long has Sakura been gone?"

"We can safely assume that she has been gone from the time the signal jutsu was activated," Tsunade answered, gesturing to the creature preening itself. "You may examine the bird yourselves if you wish, but anything that can be found so far has already been recorded in your mission papers."

"Woah," said Ino, rifling through her report. "We're going up against level-S shinobi? What level mission is this?"

Tsunade closed her eyes behind interlaced fingers. "S-Level."

The new teammates looked at one another with surprise. Apart from some incorrectly labeled missions,

"Take heart, comrades!" shouted Lee, throwing both fists into the air, "We will find Sakura and bring her back still in the flower of her youth!"

"Teme!" Naruto yelled back. "Why are you always...?"

"Silence!" Tsunade commanded. "You must understand this: this woman is dangerous. Sakura is in danger. Do not fail." The company avoided looking at each other, standing more still than necessary.

Tsunade sighed and leaned back in her chair. "Send in the next group."

xXx

A/N- So there you go. Next chapter we will be spending some quality time with Sakura and maybe things will make a bit more sense. Reviews are love... or hate. Whatever.


	11. Chapter 11

A/N- I apologize most profusely for my negligence regarding this fic. *performs a full kowtow* Many things have happened in my life that required me to take a break from writing altogether and when I returned, I didn't feel adequate to writing this difficult little chapter. I realize that I don't have to justify myself, but I always prefer it when I learn a little more about an author, so I continue to make these kinds of notes. Anyway, back to business as usual.

xXx

It was completely fruitless to expect that this visit would be any different than previous ones. Why he had been persuaded to enter the brothel again, he didn't know. A lapse in judgment, perhaps, or was it the shameless display of the call girl out front? Every girl here knew his greatest weakness from personal experience.

"Madam, please," he said to the simpering woman. "I have seen all of your merchandise  
many times. None of it interests me." To cement his point, he crossed his legs and lounged with unreasonable nonchalance on the sofa which was too soft.

"Yes sir, of course, sir," she replied, bowing and folding her bejeweled hands into her sleeves, "However, we have a new acquisition that many strike your fancy; a kunoichi."

Tiredly, he rolled his eyes to the owner. Her crooked grin wasn't selling the product. Everything from her decadent but worn gown to her badly painted face sapped his patience. "How could you possibly have acquired a genuine kunoichi? Nevermind." He regarded her sternly for a moment, deciding what level of effort he was willing to make. "Show her to me," he said after a long silence.

The silly woman scurried away making chopping motions with her hands to the girls clustered around the granite clerk's counter. Five of them followed her down the dark hallway and disappeared into the back. He knew that there was a large building attached to the back of the storefront. This cleverly disguised building housed all of their 'movable' merchandise, a store which could have an imposing volume at times. Only this little lobby was attached to it. Upstairs lived the permanent fixtures: merchandise for rental that had long ago proven unable to sell. When, invariably, nothing in her warehouse attracted his attention, it was sometimes usual for him to complete the tour upstairs. Would he feel that way today? Probably not, he thought, choosing to sit on the plush green velvet daybed. Today his appetite was lean.

As he crossed his legs, he heard a far-off rustle grow louder and more pointed. He chuckled to himself. She might not be a kunoichi, but at she could certainly put up a fight. There was a loud crack, a few hurried, angry words, and then the door at the end of the hallway opened. The entire group came flooding out, the five bodies of the attendants completely blocking his view of the pseudo-kunoichi, but when they moved...

xXx

Sakura despised the way the slave traders talked around her as though she were a well-carved block of wood or a dog. Their callous words cut her deeply, but there were other things here that hurt. Each lady concealed a slender bamboo wand in her sleeve that could be whipped out in a second and the assistants ruthlessly slashed her body when she didn't instinctively obey their most casual commands. Of course, to her, the pain wasn't anything more than a slight inconvenience, but she wasn't sure she wanted her captors to know in case they had stronger tactics in reserve, so she was always obliged to wince or cry out. To entertain herself, she began to see during what other occasions she could express these sorts of reactions before anyone caught on that she was faking them.

When they fed her, she scooted away and hid her face; when they tried to wash her, she would cry and whimper and whenever they tried to move her, like today, she would thrash and flail her arms, congratulating herself when her hands smacked anyone. She would have easily used her monstrous strength to crush any one of them into a squishy, gelatinous carpet stain, but the cold, steel shackles at her wrists and ankles sapped her precious chakra. A deep, cruel symbol carved into them announced their dark purpose which brought back the memory of the first, terrible day they had been forced upon her and the agonizing burns she had caused herself. She didn't know when she might need to use the slender tendril of life force left flowing under her skin, so she refrained from exercising her frustration and continued to resist her treatment through mundane means.

She noticed that this move involved more orderlies than usual, one for each limb and an overseer, but most unusually she was additionally treated to a drive-by grooming. Her unbound hair, which now just touched her shoulders, was roughly brushed and cold water splashed on her face. Over the dirty white shift she had been wearing for two weeks, a faded, pink robe was tied and little, papery shoes were thrust upon her feet. More emphatically than usual (in accordance with the evident importance of this event), she kicked out her feet and balled her writhing arms into fists. She caught a young woman for sure in her face, but strangely, she was not swatted with the girl's wand. What was going on?

Finally, she was dragged from the dirty, dark corridors into a romantically-lit room with walls covered in lovely, rich hues. Her paper shoes made soft _shooshing_ sound across a plush, wine-colored carpet. She saw the simpering lady into whose possession Hiroko Yoshida had released her, but she wasn't looking at Sakura. Instead, she inclined her head toward a long green sofa with only half a back, but its occupant was blocked by various bodies and limbs. Sakura's hair was given one last tweak and she realized that she was on display. Now, all of the attendants retreated back against the wall and the madam led her forward by one hand and slowly, sensuously turned her in a circle before a dark man who sprawled lazily on the low couch. Sakura was unable to glimpse his face because of the poor lighting and then finally, she was made to kneel. The older woman used a closed fan under the chin to raise her face to the observer.

The man on the couch was a perfectly normal looking man. He was neither thin nor thick and he had straight black hair to the base of his ears. Under a prominent brow decorated with thick, black eyebrows peered keen, dark eyes that gazed at her, unblinkingly. His tight jaw was also slightly heavy, but came to a balanced point under thin, silent lips. He wore grey trousers and brown shoes under a long-sleeved brown sweater. Over this was a long, woolen black overcoat. Under different circumstances, he was a completely forgettable figure.

The relentless intensity with which he stared at her was unnerving, however. It felt as though his eyes were burning through her skin, which gave her a disturbing feeling of déjà vu. The pinky on his left hand twitched occasionally as his thoughts raced through his head until the frequency of the activity suddenly gave her a suspicion. Carefully, subtly, she let her delicate tendril of healing green chakra surface in her face, far away from her shackles. It was almost imperceptible (the attendants of average sensory stood no chance of seeing it) but after she did so, his dark eyes flashed and widened.

He was a ninja. It now occurred to her that he was under a glamour jutsu and she became afraid. What if this ninja bought her? In her current state, she could be completely at his mercy, especially since she had no idea how powerful he was. Her shackles prevented her from even healing her own bruises- anything else was out of the question- but more urgently, he now knew that she was also a ninja. How could she have been so stupid to show him voluntarily?

"Well, sir?" The madam stepped into greater prominence and bowed low, pressing her hands together. "She _is_ a kunoichi, yes?"

Slowly, the man stood and unconsciously, the madam's feet backed away. Sakura surmised that the couch must be low indeed to disguise his true height, but resolutely she stood her ground, gazing back into his eyes and ignoring the flush of panic in her own cheeks.

"I…" he began in a deceptively thin voice, barely audible, "I will buy her. Name your price." He hardly noticed the ecstatic glitter in the madam's eyes, but continued to appraise the kneeling Sakura. Presently, he inclined his head and clasped his hands behind his back. The careful tightness was gone from his face.

"Here is her documentation! How will you be transporting her today?" said the madam, breathlessly. There was a frantic rustling when she returned to view and set down a stack of papers on the coffee table.

The ninja's eyes flicked to the row of attendants still standing against the wall, then returned his eyes to Sakura and said, "I will take care of that now." In the empty void between them, his chakra began to reach out. It felt dry and hot and looked red in color. Sakura flinched, but once again refused to back away. She concentrated as hard as she could on her chakra, pulling it from every nerve in her body, begging her body to make more than was reasonable. Her opponent's chakra was pooling between them dangerously. Behind him, the madam was watching them, trying to hide her look of confusion, but all of Sakura's attention was focused on ordering her chakra in front of her. Her head swam. Her chakra was simply rejecting her direction, unable to replenish itself to suit her needs. It kept slipping from her control and couldn't be made dense. Why couldn't she concentrate?

When his red, burning chakra advanced on her, she felt her heart beat savagely with panic. She threw all of her faintly glowing, green chakra between them, warding off whatever terrible thing he was about to do. His chakra hesitated, then folded the weak, green shape into itself and encircled her. It cradled her head, warm and soft and Sakura felt herself falling, inexorably and willingly, into sleep.

xXx

"…_It would be best if you slept." _

"_No! No... please don't leave me yet..."_

"_All right. I'll stay. Something has been on your mind. Would you like to tell me what it is?"_

_"Have I done the right thing?"_

This is the forest. The air smells faintly of pine. How did it come to be? Was this en route to a mission? What was she supposed to be doing? She should make coffee- that always helped. On the other hand, the sky was still dark, so it must be before morning and she could go back to sleep. Come to think of it, she wasn't lying in her soft, warm bed, she was curled up in a vertical position and her back hurt as though she had been sitting against a tree all night. No wonder she was awake so early.

She opened her eyes and saw a dark brown wall curving sharply around her. She looked from one side to the other and found herself surrounded by the same textured wall folded like a tube around her. Though upon inspection her wrists were free of cold iron, her chakra was still only a delicate tendril. She tried to stand up, but found quickly that her knees were in her chest and couldn't move for the wall of her prison. Her hands were also wedged tightly against her chest and immobile. Panic hovered at the edges of her vision, but she held it back. Quickly, she looked up and saw that the ceiling was very close. A feeling pressed in on her, a feeling like the world was shrinking, but not her. Against her will, her breathing quickened. Her hands struck out at the wall and though it gave slightly, it remained solid. She struck again and again, putting more of her limited strength into her blows each time to no avail. Her body was definitely panicking now. She lashed out and her world wobbled. What was going on, here?

Suddenly, light poured in through the ceiling. She was lifted by hands like iron and carried away from her dreadful prison. When she was lowered to the ground, she quickly opened her eyes.

It _was_ in a forest; a very cold forest thick with trees native to a cold climate. Light frost covered the ground beyond a swept, dirt circle. To one side sat a large wicker basket with its lid propped against it. Low hanging branches created a fragrant canopy that occasionally dripped water onto its tenants. Through the foliage, the sky was violet and crimson and thin, sparse clouds reflected the colors of the sky.

"It is dusk."

Sakura whipped around to see a tall man walk around a small campfire and sit on a short stump. He used a hooked stick to pull a tiny iron pot closer and remove the lid. He stirred whatever was inside, then returned it to the bright coals of the fire before finally looking up. His eyes were dark spots of black under a curtain of long, shaggy brown hair. His small mouth was a low, tight line of shadow, but his body was broad and completely relaxed. Sakura's legs jerked and tried to stand now that they were unbound. She lunged toward the forest, but fell on her hands and knees immediately.

"No, no, no," he growled. "You know you aren't strong enough for that. Come sit here and eat. You are starving." He gestured with the hook to a straw mat on the opposite side of the fire. "Crawl if you need to," he added in a gentler voice when her face betrayed her weakness.

"Who are you?" Sakura asked, refusing to come an inch closer until the situation was assessed.

Around him, his red chakra flared like a fire having kerosene thrown upon it. The pine branch above him trembled and dumped a little water onto his head, which calmed him down. A big, scarred hand came up to sweep his hair back and shake out the water. It fell straight back the way it was. "I am Ueno Hisoka. You call me Ueno-dono."

Even though she knew the answer, she asked, "Are you the man from the... the place?"

"Yes. I bought you." Like she had thought, he had disguised himself at the brothel. The lack of chakra covering his skin told her that this was his true appearance. Her eyes traveled away from him and out towards the forest, but as though sensing her next thoughts, his red chakra moved swiftly through the night air and enclosed the campsite in a low wall. She would not simply be walking away. "Sit," he said, not unkindly, but in the manner of an order nonetheless.

Defiantly, she stood, wobbling, and tiptoed to the fire. The sticks of wood in the fire were burning slowly, great chunks of ruby coals glowing at either end. She knelt on the simple mat slowly, keeping her head down. The fire, while small, warmed her pale skin. She chanced a glance up and saw the man watching her. He made a small facial movement and returned to his task with the iron pot. Before long, he held out a small bowl of rice and simple broth with a pair of polished wooden chopsticks laid across. Cautiously, she accepted it. He watched her passively until she started in surprise and forced herself to take a bite. Only then did he serve himself and sit cross-legged. "Itadakimasu," he muttered as an afterthought. Sakura made no pretense of manners.

Ueno ate slowly, only looking down at his bowl. Sakura, having not seen hide nor hair of food in presumably three days, ate quicker than a flash. She held her bowl in her lap examining the elegantly minimalist carving and ensured that his attention was completely held by food. When she was sure he wasn't watching her, Sakura let her hands fall on either side of her knees. Slowly, patiently, they drifted closer to the fire, obscured by the bright flames. She hesitated for a moment, making sure to keep her breathing absolutely steady and trying to push her chakra to her fingers, then, quick as a flash, she seized a big, smooth stick from the fire that had a particularly large spike of burning ember and flung it with all her might at the man who now owned her.

Effortlessly, his scarred hand came up and batted the stick away to lodge, point first, in the dirt a little ways away. "Don't do that," he said with tired patience. Sakura burst into tears.

"What are you going to do to me?" she sobbed. "What do you want from me?" She was tired, she was weak and she was being held captive by a ninja she didn't know. Now that the night sky was completely dark, she felt the weight of her uselessness pulling her down.

"Quiet," Ueno commanded firmly. He waited until she slowly sniffled herself into relative calm and set everything aside. He filled a different pot with water from a bucket and set it in the coals, building up the fire around it again. While it heated, he brought out a packet from his pocket and emptied its contents inside, then at length poured the liquid into both of their empty bowls. The smell was strong and when she was directed to drink it, it was found to be black tea.

"You are going to be accompanying me. You have no established duties as of yet and the physical demand I place on you is, currently, small."

"But... why?"

"Irrelevant." He finished sipping his tea and made a dismissive gesture with his other hand. "All that matters is the present situation, not the series of events that led to it. Maybe in other situations," he added, seeing her mouth open to protest, "but not this one."

"...Where are we going?"

"The question that you are asking me is far less interesting than the one you are thinking."

Sakura had to pause for a moment and retrace her mental steps. When she remembered the question she had been thinking about, she didn't want to ask it. The corner of his thin mouth rose slightly. "Please ask it," he encouraged.

"Is... there anyone following us?" Sakura felt ashamed of her tiny, pathetic voice, but the chance of an answer was too important to pass by.

"Yes," he said promptly, surprising her with honesty. "A group of five young ninja have been on your trail for several days, but their progress is slow and I highly doubt they understand the nature of your... situation." He looked at her face quickly again, his black eyes meeting hers. "You have been asleep for maybe a day and a half," he answered. "I had enough time to find them, lay a subtle trail to my semi-permanent, quasi-accessible dwelling and begin our journey to fields afar where some business contacts of mine have informed me there is money to make." He stood slowly, revealing his entire, towering height to her, then slowly approached her around the fire. His enormous hand reached once more into his pocket and pulled out a small brown packet. He dipped a long finger inside and brought out a miniscule amount of white powder on the pad of his forefinger. "I am truly aggrieved, but now that I have rested and you have been fed, I must return you to the basket. Time is of the essence and I cannot afford to lose it trying to keep you under control. Cooperate." He seized her face in his hand and used a thumb to pry open her jaw. Sakura barely had time to fling her hands at him when he had touched the powder to her tongue and she once more succumbed to unconsciousness.

xXx

A/N- There you are! So I was looking through some old reviews, seeing what I missed, having long conversations in my head and I decided to answer a few questions that I saw cropping up a few times, because I'm sure many people would like to know.

"Where is Sasuke?"

Well, I'm not sure. This story was only intended to be a five chapter deal before I decided to plunge in deeper, and in the original plot, he was a complete non-entity, so I didn't write anything for him. Maybe, _maybe_, if the plot seems to swing that way, he'll turn up to muck about, but for now, let's just say that his life doesn't intersect with Sakura's much at all, so she doesn't think about him a whole lot. (If you prefer to pretend that he's dead, go right ahead.)

"Why does Sakura call herself Ichigo? Is that from Bleach?"

Simple. Ichigo, as we all know, means 'strawberry'. It's not perfect, but her pink hair could remind one of strawberries. No. I didn't take it from Bleach.

"Is Sai dead?"

Why would I answer a plot-relevant question?


	12. Chapter 12

"Can you cook?" He stared off into the distance as he asked, hardly sounding as though he cared about the answer. He might as well have asked her if she'd woken up that morning.

"Yes," she answered, eyeballing the small sack looped into his belt. She thought she saw it wiggle.

"Good," he said. He pulled out the sack and unceremoniously dropped it beside her. He went to the other side of the firs pit and brought back a dark red, leather haversack tied closed with two sets of leather strings. Sakura opened it, like she was obviously supposed to, and found a kitchen knife with a wooden handle, a wide, flat bowl and a small, iron pot. "This is yours to carry now," he said. "Cook it all, but leave some food for the morning." Then, he went to sit heavily on the other side of the wood he had cut earlier.

It was not, of course, necessary to tell her to do such a thing- her long-standing survival training wouldn't have let her do anything else- but the fact that he felt it was told her about the nature of his previous traveling companions, were there any. Mulling this over to herself, she peeked into the bag where three beautiful, silver fish flopped weakly in the sunshine. She raised an eyebrow at the thought that he had left them for her to kill, and then heard a soft sound, but when she looked toward the wood pile, he was absorbed in reading a map. Sakura pursed her lips with affront, but took each fish from the bag and expertly lashed their heads on a nearby rock (whack, whack, whack!) killing them quickly.

Sakura groped in the red leather bag for a moment, the realized a problem. "Do you have matches? Or flint?" He looked up from his meditation on the landscape to see her hand outstretched to take whatever he might offer and he chuckled properly. "You are a kunoichi, aren't you?"

So it was to be a test. Showing unparalleled restraint, Sakura ground her teeth together and slowly turned her back on her... partner. She took a log from the woodpile and with a strike of her hand that bordered on undisciplined, Crack!, she cleft it in twain. She then stripped a short, stout twig from another log and peeled it carefully to a point. Though she could feel his eyes upon her as she worked, when she turned back to the fire to proceed, their gazes did not meet. Instead, Sakura's green eyes bored into the open log with an intensity that could have, itself, started a roaring fire. She picked a quick dimple in the very middle of the open, split log and set the stick vertically in it.

This ancient method of making fire was neither the most efficient nor the quickest, but it took strength, endurance and quickness of hand to perform properly. Any ninja would be able to provide enough friction to produce smoking coals in under a minute, but with Sakura's burning fury, the log itself began to smoke, then burst apart with the anger of the heat and flames inside. Smirking to herself with savage pride, she threw the flaming splinters into the fire pit and covered them lightly with tinder and fuel. The fish were in the pot, steaming under the coals, in due time.

xXx

"Is this the place? It looks like a warehouse."

"The records were pretty specific..." Ino opened her eyes and rubbed her temples. The papers she had seen through another girl's eyes were fresh in her mind, but at this late point in the evening, some of the words were starting to blur together. This looked rather like the sketch, though, and the address was in the correct district.

"It is the place," said Hinata from the right, her hands pressed together and her eyes glowing pearlescent. "There are many, many women in the big building in the back."

"_Honto?_ Is any of them Sakura-chan?"

"Shut up, _baka._" Ino absently reached out and clocked him on the side of the head. While they were together at the front of the group, the girls had decided that they should be paired with the overly-exuberant boys to keep them from being too loud and stupid. So far, this had been a smooth plan; the occasional hitch was only when someone needed to have sense knocked back into them.

"It's... it's hard to tell... It's very dark."

"Let's go!" exclaimed Lee, punching a fist in the air. "She isn't going to wait!"

"N-no!" said Hinata, breaking her jutsu and grabbing his arm. "We shouldn't go in if she isn't there for sure." Her wide, milky eyes turned to Ino. "What should we do? I can keep looking, but they have chakra suppression items; I saw one of the collars. I can't search for her chakra signature, so I'd have to look at each of them."

"How many are there?"

She bit her lip, counting. "A hundred? More?"

"Isn't that a lot of people to keep locked up at a time?" asked Naruto. His hand mussed his already untidy blond hair.

"It is," said Ino, sounding faintly surprised. She looked at the warehouse again, deep in thought and then said slowly, "This isn't our only lead... we _could_ go to a different location first... but..." She looked quickly at the others as though hoping they would confirm her thought before she had to say it out loud. "My guess is that she came through here. There are so any people in such an unobtrusive place, it might be a kind of processing center. I think we should go in. If she isn't there right now, then there may be something telling us where she is."

"We could disguise ourselves as visiting officials or... customers or something."

"I don't think so, Lee. I think we'd need a letter of introduction- like the ones you found. Pity we didn't take one..."

"T-then... we'll have to break in?"

Ino nodded. "Quietly," she added. "Let's make a plan."

xXx

Sakura forced her limbs to relax in her bedroll. Many young ninja made the mistake of holding themselves entirely rigid when feigning sleep, determined not to move or even to breathe. She counted seconds to herself and when a good number had passed, she let herself sigh as though dreaming and move her face gently against the firm pillow. It was already very late at night. The sky was cloudy, so the moon was invisible and there were no stars twinkling overhead. Even the crickets seemed to chirrup only halfheartedly. Sakura thought about sneaking a peek at her captor to see whether he was asleep, but she was afraid that the nearly dead coals would reflect off her eyes and give her away. No, it was better to wait until she was completely sure.

In good ninja tradition, even a man of Hisoka's size made no sound as he slept. He barely rustled as he turned over and he certainly didn't snore. She wasn't even sure he slept under his blanket; he might sleep rigid as a board on top with his weapons only a few inches away. The thought made Sakura want to shudder, but she nipped her own tongue to suppress the feeling.

Was it time yet? The clearing under the tree was nearly silent. Sakura allowed her eyelashes to flutter and capture the last ember smoldering out. If she was going to try, there probably wouldn't be a better moment. She let her breathing quicken as though just now wakening and opened her eyes properly.

Huh. Looks like he does sleep under the blanket.

Silently, looking plainly as though she did not wish to wake him, Sakura rolled back her blanket and stood. For good measure, she stretched her arms before tiptoeing to the other side of the fire and a little ways into the trees. Very nonchalantly, she stepped behind a tree and squatted. That was the easy part. If he called for her right this second, she could lie and say she had needed to use the bathroom. Not a sound came to her, though she strained her ears and closed her eyes. It was time.

She gathered the short hem of her worn shift so there wasn't the slightest chance it could drag, then bunched up her muscles and began to pick her way over the inky black ground. She was lucky- no invisible twigs snapped to give her away. When she looked back, she couldn't even see the campsite, though with such low light that wasn't surprising. She broke into an easy lope which, as her adrenaline began to pound in her ears, became a shambling run, and then a dead sprint. The precious chakra she had been nurturing and saving glowed in her feet, taking her farther, faster.

Still no sound of pursuit! She ran harder wanting to delay the moment when he would wake and see her gone, but it hadn't yet happened. Perhaps she was in the clear! It would be foolish to relax her vigilance, but the knot in her belly considered loosening itself.

No.

Not a chance.

Blinding light flared ahead of her. Her speed was too great to come to a standstill, but she was able to swerve to one side and run up a tree. The light followed her, blocking her path at every turn over the branches, down the feinting fall she took and even as she ran backwards.

"Very clever," said Hisoka Ueno in a sincere voice once she had stopped trying to outmaneuver his light. "I have never seen sleep so well mimicked. You also did not try to take anything with you, either through deception or just before. You might even have been able to fake losing your way back in this total darkness." He lowered the lantern so she could see the grim expression in his face. His lips were thinned and his dark black brows nearly met. "I didn't need my sigil to be tripped to know what you did, though."

Quicker than thought, he seized her tightly around her middle in a way that bound both of her arms as well. He leaped through the trees with her making her journey, which had felt a quarter of an hour long, feel like only a few seconds and then dropped her carelessly before the new, blazing fire in the campsite. Wildly, Sakura thought of making a second dead run attempt, but she found herself so afraid that her knees wouldn't bend. She only sat sprawled where she had fallen, watching his great figure reach for something near his bedroll. She had enough time to see the object reflect light from the fire before he leaned over her and touched her neck. He was an enormous man, especially up close. His strong scent was a mix of burning wood, cooked meat and his own spicy musk. _Click_ went the object at her throat and his oppressiveness receded. He knelt before her and performed one, powerful hand seal which caused the object to become very warm.

If she hadn't been sitting, Sakura would have allowed gravity to take her. She was not in pain, but she felt suddenly weak as though sick in bed with flu. Desperately, she searched herself, but there was not a shred of usable chakra left. The band of metal around her neck had siphoned it all away. She felt it gingerly, sluggishly bringing her hands through the air and following the band all the way around to the base of her neck, where there was a symbol pressed into it.

"I did not wish to use this, but I think this will help you understand the position you hold." Hisoka's voice was flat, unapologetic, yet not cruel or admonishing. It seemed as though this was simply a part of being owned by him, nothing to be emotional over. "If you ever try to escape again..." he raised a hand and slowly curled his fingers into a fist.

Instantly, the band began to tighten. Sakura gasped in surprise and then clutched at the collar in earnest, her fingers working to relieve the increasing pressure. Her mouth fell open and her tongue pulled forward, trying to let her breathe, but the band was tightening still further. She flung herself forward and scrabbled to find something that would help. Her fingers closed on a slender branch, which she shoved erratically at the collar again and again trying to wedge it under, but she only cut herself and bled a wide, red trail.

_Yamete! Yamete kudesai... onegai..._

The fire was turning slowly to orange, then red and then black in her vision. The sound of her hands pounding on the ground grew fainter and her body let itself fall all the way to the ground and press her face into the leaves and twigs. Just as abruptly as it had started, the band loosened and the pain was gone. Her body shuddered with breath and she coughed. Only now her throat burned with the pain of her self-inflicted slash.

"Now you know." He returned to his bedroll and left her to cry in the dirt.

END OF ACT I

xXx

A/N- There you have it. Do please review regardless of whether or not you liked it. Reviews let me know... everything.


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